Bangalore 1990-94
Since time immemori91, holy men and sc~olars inlllcJl?hgW,e renounced the world and gone to live a life of contemplation in forests and high mountains.
This age-old pattern was adopted as a metaphor for g~nerating the layout of this new campus, an extension of the Indian Institute of Science (the oldest and still the premier Institute of Fundamental Research in India), which has been created to provide research fa~ilities and living accommodation for distinguished visiting scientists and scholars. The traditional renunciation of the world by the rishi (holy man) is here symbolised by a long curving wall, built of granite blocks, which encircles a forest in the centre of the site.
The various facilities provided (research laboratories, lecture halls, library, residential accommodation, etc.) are on the other side of the wall- so that during the course of their studies and research, the scientists (truly the new rishis!) can step through the perforated granite wall, into the forest for wisdom and enlightenment.
A service road skirts the outer boundary of the site, providing access to the various facilities. In a second phase, an additional set of research laboratories has been added, connected to the znain building by a,Buckminster'" Fuller dome, celeb~ating the "Bucky Balls'' which constitute the structure of carbon atoms,- a geometry
intuitively conceptualised by one who must surely be among the greatest rishis of our 20th century.
;", .:'~ " '
-"
-
.,~
Axonometric showing the stone wall encircling the forest ENTRANCEGATE
i,::'-.' ,
1\
~ .
0 5 10-\\.
dam c~y
Looking out through the stone wall into the forestLooking out from the hostel, towards the forest
HOSTEL
~"
\C_"'-_'LlL~Ii Ii I,: i
====::it
FOREST
Plan of Laboratories and portion of Hostel
A balcony in the hostel
Lab. 4'
[
LABORATORIES
Lab 2
--,r---'r---I' "
Ii :1
-"-_J,--Bed
\-I
ii2~~om ~@ \
~ ::--~
.':--..:
':-:: --::.::=:- "
'.- .'
-- . .
-~ .
-\ -- - ~ -. '"
Laboratory
' 'r ">L
0 2 5
Section through Research Laboratories and Hostel
,I
I
~
If
y
The Buckminster Fuller dome, representing the structure of the carbon molecule
Walking past the Hostel entrance, with the Library ahead
The Library - that ancient symbol of knowledge - "breaks through" the granite wall, establishing a closer relationship with the forest
The zone between work area and forest
~"
Viewfromthe forest, back towards the work areas
I
Thewall,made up of blocks of grey granite, quarried locally, through which one stepsintothe forest. . .
JNIDB
Hyderabad 1986-91
This Institute is set up to train senior managers from banks in India and South Asia, who come in for various types of courses from two weeks to a full year. One of the key objectives of the programme therefore is that informal interaction and discussion among
management trainees and faculty members should be encouraged by the very pattern and layout of the built form itself.
Hence the complex system of interdependent spaces, organised around a series of landscaped courtyards, so as to -provide the humidified micro-climate necessary in the hot-dry climate of Hyderabad- and very evident in its traditional architecture. The sequence of these courtyards connects the auditorium to the teaching rooms, and thence on to the faculty offices. Along a cross axis, another sequence leads one up through the gently ascending levels of the sloping site, past the lounges and dining hall to the residential rooms, which are laid out around . smaller courtyards. In the centre of the entire complex is the kund,
whose stone steps echo the boulder-strewn landscape of
Hyderabad, creating a focus in the centre of the complex - an ideal place for casual conversations, as also for concerts and more formal occasions.
The landscape of Hyderabad Entrance lobby
-If
53
..
f
-0OJ 0 a:
c:
"iiJ
::;:
Site plan
Entrance canopy
r'
-~-View
of faculty teaching rooms from entrance plaza1, ~
O'-{~~om ~~" Main entrance
sing
T
.~
,
...--The kund in the centre
E
J(""Areas for informal encounters
--
--A cluster of residential rooms around a small courtyard
ro
Axonometric of the main complex
1 CentralKund.
.
4The sequence of spaces
I Seating I
,J <-- around Kund -+1.
3
I I \
I I External 'aid---> I<--Node--'\<--Roorn >(Ver.", < Garden >I.Landscape-->ABC Part plan showing residential rooms
around access courtyard
To generate interaction between management trainees and faculty, there are two important spatial sequences
- the firstleads from the public zones (theteaching rooms, auditorium, etc) to the privacy of the individual hostel rooms. The second continues on from these individual rooms out into the surrounding landscape.
Both sequences have been carefully layered, so as to create a series of zones, ranging from the most public to the most private. Thus starting with the
monumentality of the entrance hall, the spaces get gradually more casual, so as to encourage the kind of.
informal interaction so essential to the programme.
From the residential rooms out towards the external landscape, there is an analogous pattern of layering:
each room has a small sit-out porch, which in turn relates to the cluster of other such porches,allJocated on terrace gardens, from which one can go out into the surrounding landscape.
"
rap-lit lobbies, on way to Dining room
111 l1li
The central kund
.ooking out towards the rock-strewn landscape of Hyderabad
II
Access ~orridor around courtyard
.
,'" I
( \
A'
,
~
-'.ia'!Jav
.gJJ!~=
i ..,... Ii'Ii'... ...1.
Oarwaza,marking entrance to Faculty and Staff Houses
...
1
~.
""
""
""
....
~-*' .d~
-The outside walls of the complex are white, with the warm earth colours and the landscaped courtyards glowing from within
,"'"
"~ 0
-~
..
Site plan of housing area
iJ";:;~o
mt2)
Cluster of faculty houses
Isometric of faculty houses
----The houses for faculty and staff are on the rightI
main plaza, reached through a "darwaza" (or gal which spans over the driveway Besides the Oirf residence (located at the corner), this complex provides accommodation for three categories of houses,from the maintenance staff to the senior faculty, organised around three interlocking COU
v
<=
Housesfor maintenance staff
' ''---', ,
a 135m
Pergola covered walkway