To design a K-12 school following the norms of ICSE board
The school building would be built in 3 phases
A one line mandate: school should not be a “jail”.
Our Concerns:
It was vital that the building remains valid for an individual child- from as a toddler to a teenager and also to the subsequent generations - The school must go beyond the 3 dimensions of space & cater to the 4th dimension of time.
Fast changing technology, constant syllabus overhauling, makes it imperative that the column free spaces to be flexible, and able to regroup.
To integrate a variety of un-programmed spaces without compromising the commercial viability of the project, considering the high land prices in Mumbai
To create a sense of expanse in an essentially high rise building.
Our Approach:
The floor plate was divided in 3 blocks. The end blocks became the class room; the middle one was shifted at split level, and housed the common areas like laboratories, art room, and library, etc.
Free of FSI internal staircase was created to connect all levels. The staircases were planned to became the hub of unplanned interactions. The playful design & the colour treatment emphasized the informality of the space.
Along the access route, the corridors were widened to create pauses strategically, to allow for informal dialogues.
The split level also created a sense of expanse of space in a very limited floor space.
The principles of passive climate control were followed to optimise the use of natural light & ventilation by scientifically capturing and guiding wind through corridors and natural sunlight through the light shelves.
The scientific requirements were well balanced with building bye-laws to create a striking design feature - length windows.
The 3 bands of windows allow for bringing in the light and wind and offering views to every age group.
Exposed concrete, with its allusions to timelessness, ruggedness, neutrality became the clear choice as backdrop. Silver anodized aluminium windows & light shelves were used externally to complement the concrete. A wide palette of primary, secondary and tertiary colours were used in interiors to infuse life and vibrancy.
While retaining the exposed RCC finish grooves and cut-outs within beams and columns were introduced; to integrate the services & structure.
