Project: SPA, New Delhi
Intensity_preface Designing the School of Planning and Architecture campus is more nostalgic for Design Plus than a moment of prestige. For decades the SPA has produced both National and International achievers for the Architectural Profession, and we too claim to be amongst the list. Apart from the personal connection present, the Design Competition carries immense responsibilities towards the profession as a whole. The proposal for us would be a statement for an ideal designed environment/habitat for this century. A product which boasts of being aesthetically sublime, environmentally conscious, functionally a blend of convention and differentiation, but more importantly a responsively planned urban model and architecturally articulate built environment. The claims are humongous, but it‟s the project that compels us to be at our best. The site for example can be understood as a confluence between the natural environment (South Central Ridge) and the Urban Development (Vasant Kunj residences and now Malls and JNU, teri and bio-diversity parks as institutionallandmarks). Apart from its volatile location, the brief brings together the entireSPA commune (Under-grad, Post-Grad, Planning, Architecture and the residential requirements) within one perimeter for the first time since itsinception in 1959. Finally, this competition shall bring the country‟s finest together on one platform. It is probably the first time ever that who‟s who of Indian Architecture shall be competing against their colleagues, students and teachers to mastermind India‟s premiere architectural institute. Understanding the urbanGround | Scales The ITO campus enjoyed the intensity of its urban engagement, where the evolution of School of Planning and Architecture overlapped with the development of the city. However, the now evolved SPA with its new campus would add to the institutional, residential and commercial collage in Delhi‟s south central ridge and would brace itself to witness yet another state of dynamism of such a juxtaposed urban setting.
Highlighting the important distinction between Urbanism and Urbanization, we propose the Urban Ground. This is a model of urbanism that attempts to dilute the extremities between the natural and the human imposed context. At the Macro-level, the urban ground respects the once nature dominated skyline and simultaneously the need for human intervention. At the Meso-level, acknowledging the pressures exerted by the site‟s morphology, the Urban Ground acts as an extension of the existing terrain, both as a blend or an additive layer. This ground can be understood as a surface at the Micro-level, that negotiates topography and accommodates functional deployments, performing as a roof, a ground, and occupiable space, depending on its own gradient and
Tooling “If architecture is an extended process of formation, then before ideas coalesce into definitive form there must exist some undifferentiated state free of any organization” - Benjamin Aranda & Chris Lasch
Ideas are formless and exist floating in describable abstracts. Designdevelopment is a process that initiates the transition of these ideas from the abstracts into the realms of the tangible; and Tooling is the operator that transfers this „pre-material‟ to the „material. Tooling is a set of techniques that afford the design decisions to set sail. The products however, may reflect abstractions in purity or their derivations. Design Plus breaks down tooling into algorithmic reasoning. The architectural and planning decisions are supported by custom written codes that create a certain degree of accidental yet consistent results. The modulations of codes provide a repertoire of formal outputs, demonstrating relations and their evolution, loading the project with glaring information. A series of conducted operations generate 2D patterns, 3D forms, and varying spatial configurations that are open to interpretation.With our machinic processes we attempt to balance the theoretical, digital, and intuitive input.
Administrative Zone - Surface behaves as a conventional roof over the Administrative block, shaped by surrounding sky-line pressures. To accommodate separate programs the ground splits to generate multiple spatial conditions in addition to creating an envelope for National Resource Centre and Health Centre. The lecture hall exemplifies a condition of stacked floors including its roof, which in turn behaves as an elevated ground for the academic zone. The Auditorium identifies the Surface as a conventional roofing element. However, gradual slope above the campus centre permits pedestrian movement.
Residential tract - The system of alternating units, their serving corridors and occasional sky lounges introduce accidental interactions on and between floors. - Residential passages are daylit to reduce energy consumptions. Surface behaves as a conventional roof over the Residential blocks, binding the three distinct units.
