. Greetings and welcome to today's session of
a Case Study of Building Envelope Design. Today I am going to talk about the hand in
hand academy for social entrepreneurship which is located in Kanchipuram and built in 2015.
This is a project that effectively combines sensitive architectural design with very efficient
building envelope design which ensures that the internal spaces are cool and comfortable
without the excessive use of mechanical conditioning.This is built for a NGO called hand in hand
who is has an international base with the head quartered in Kanchipuram.
A little bit about our firm before I move on. Our firm green evolution focuses on holistic
sustainable design and construction where we effectively combine sensitive and thoughtful
architecture with efficient design of systems and other engineering to ensure that the
building is holistically sustainable and is built in harmony with the natural environment
.And this also ensures that you know we mitigate the harmful effects on the environment
because of the extensively polluted construction industry that is happening today.
The speakers for today is myself Anupama, I am an architect with a passion for environmental
design and construction. Along with me Jaideep Vivekanand who is our expert in green technologies
and systems. So, he will be talking a little more about the green systems and the technology
measures that we have used in the project. Moving on I will brief you on the project
summary first this is an 1800 square feet building built across 3 floors. It is a
g plus 2 construction mostly designed as a naturally ventilated structure, some of the
spaces like there is an auditorium and there are training halls which needed conditioning
in case of you know excessive heat during summers The building caters to providing
courses for social entrepreneurship for an international clientele, I am going to
start with the design and planning of the facility.
Initially we were provided a design brief which we again you know evolved along with
the client hand in hand as I told you is an NGO with the focus on rural upliftment,
but they wanted to bring their experience of rural initiatives from the social aspectsinto
the international you know field. And they wanted to provide a platform where
they can actually train people who are budding social entrepreneurs .It was very important
that this facility had to reflect the international presence of hand in hand as well as it has
to be rooted in the local cultural context where it is located .
One of the other design briefs is the facility had definitely to be environmentally sustainable
which is very much inconsistent with hand in hand sustainability initiatives .And of
course, last, but not the least can be designed a facility which is cost effective and
not extravagant considering the client is an NGO and the building is to be built
purely out of donation funding . So, with this this this is the overall design
brief for the project and just to elaborate a little bit on the sustainability initiatives,
we looked at definitely energy efficiency and water efficiency; how we can harvest
hundred percent of the rainwater sensitive material use which also leads to cost reduction.
Good indoor environment of course, was the most important factor that had to be a result
of the design and management which included access to abundant light and ventilation and
also low emitting finishes inside Moving on to the location as you see in
the map, this is located in Tamil Nadu. It is a 2 hour drive from Chennai the town is
Kanchipuram. It is almost a rural setting. Kanchipuram is known for its very very rich
history and its cultural heritage in terms of the temples, monuments and its weaving
which is silk saris are very popular from here. The climate zone is warm and humid
So, considering this the cultural context became very important and we had to make sure
that the design had to have a strong sense of identity and also create a cultural
flavor for the international audience to which it would cater to ultimately. So, how did
we do that ah? One thing was if you see here, there is
a logo the building logo that has been cut into stone walls and that is used as a landscaping
wall. This is a view of the entrance that you are looking at straight and this logo
provided us a strong sense of identity for the people who are employed there. Also a
facade tile pattern was created where we actually custom design tiles and the design of the
tiles represents the one of the weaving patterns used by the local weaving community there.
Sloped roofs were created and the sloped roofs helped in you know mimicking the existing
rural aesthetics as well as sloped roofs provide you know a better heat reduction on the
internal spaces. Picture on the left you see there is a satellite image of the facility
as it is today. So, when we first saw the site, the site layout it is a very linear
site it is a 1.5 acre site set in a rectilinear fashion as you see here.
So, the first step was in a linear site like this, how do we get the full effect of the
site? You know it was very important for us, then to ensure a direct line of sight that
goes all the way from the front to the back and it was important to have this not only
as a visual access, but also a physical access. Only this will help people experience the
full extent of the site. Also if you look at the I know there is a
breezeway the site is oriented with south to the right the access main access is from
the west. So, the front facade of the building will face west or the breezeway the main prevailing
wind direction is from the south which is from the right um .And a few of the features
that were determined because of the shape of the site included like I said the linearity
of the voids that we had to create and also we need to trap needed to trap the prevailing
breeze from this south and. So, it was very important to provide open spaces adequately
to trap these breezes. A curved form if you look at this the buildings are all curved
if you look at the first part of the structure that is the academic block .
And this curved form what happens is it actually cuts you know the direct heat gained from
straight forms. So, a curved form will reduce your heat gain into the building because it
diffuses the heat um. So, this was you know already facing west it was important to try
and negate the heat from a direct west facing wall. So, the curved form helped that um.
Also one more thing about the curved form is it also reduces the cost of construction,
if you look at a perimeter of a curved surface versus a perimeter of a square surface for
the same built up area the perimeter of a curved surface is much less. So, which means
you use less material to build and which directly leads to cost reduction. So, that was one
of the big aspects being an NGO that we looked at here.
Moving on a little bit into the spatial layout of the forms that I talked about earlier like
I said the front part of the building is the academic block which has training halls, it
has a mini auditorium, library, administration and the open space that we have created
from south to north in the center of the site forms .There is an o eighty there for outdoor
seating and larger gatherings. And also a rain water percolation pond and
a small temple which again reiterates the cultural context of the place right there
So, this open space between the front academic block and you see the dining block
at the back actually helps you know trapping the wind and ventilating it keeping that breezeway
open Behind this open breezeway space is the dining block and going further down
towards the east is the staff residences and housing which are yet to be built that is
in their future phase. this I want to talk today's presentation we will talk more
about the academic block and how our planning in the academic block ensured energy efficiency
all the measures that we have taken to ensure this.
So, let us take the academic block this is a top view of the block you see the roof forms
this started with the circular form like I talked about, but we did not want to close
the circular form. There is a split across the south to north direction and this is again
to ensure the southern breeze goes cuts right through the built environment. The circular
form again culminates in a central courtyard that you see it is an open courtyard which
is which can be used for gatherings you know outdoor classrooms. And of course, we all
know in the traditional design of a muthram or a courtyard in Tamil Nadu, courtyard is
used for are used to ventilate the hot air that is created because of the built form.
So, the central courtyard acts as a vent and you see one more in the form that is coming
from the east, one more cut through the form from the east. Now that ensure that the eastern
morning light falls into the courtyard and also you know the other parts of the building
get access to this eastern light. So, when we looked at all of the splits and
the central open space what happened was the form was organically divided into 4 parts
ok. So, the front portion um here is the academic part right here and that is one part and then
the forum on the left the piece you know the pizza slice form on the left that was created
is the mini auditorium, on the right it is a library and the central space is a courtyard
space which is an open courtyard. Couple of other pointers on this like, I said again
the curved surface minimize the direct exposure to the heat. The roof forms again provides
shading because it is a sloped roof extended out, we will talk a little bit more in detail
about that later on. And also the slope form you know negates the heat the impact of
the heat that is caused on direct flat surfaces. Going on to some of the spaces that that is
found inside this curved form so, it is an effective combination of solid and voids
that is being formed. Like I said the front part is the academic and the training rooms
along with an entry in my reception space that is right there and the lounge that
is you know about the reception halls. The rest of it is a training halls the mini auditorium
which is in two levels and the library and the toilet us and the administration block
towards the south. These are the some of the pictures are
showing what I talked about how the split from the east actually causes a you know direct
line of sight as well as brings in eastern light inside and this is a view of the facade
from the exterior. Again you see the split in the built form right there that let us
in breezeways that let us in light and you know breaks up the built form. So, this
really effectively forms a good solid void relationship.
So, that is the basis of you know how we use the shape of the site to ensure the building
orientation and you know is done sensibly and that will lead to energy efficiency and
an effective indoor environment for the users. Also one more thing to add is how the
built form and the exterior or the natural site is intermingled here. So, people do not
you know go into one space and stay trap there indoors. They are able to come out, they are
able to come out into the central courtyard or go through the cut outs you know go out
then come back in. So, breakaway spaces is what we are trying to create here.
And considering it is also a no designed for an international facility. The idea of combining
you know contemporary design, but yet retaining you know keeping a strong hold of the cultural
context. If you notice there is a Buddha statue in the courtyard which again you know brings
you into roots you into the cultural context of the place and time that it is. So, that
is as far as the architectural design space planning is concerned moving on Jaideep Vivekanand
is going to talk about the energy efficiency aspects and how we evolved through the rest
of the design to ensure the spaces are cool and comfortable yes. So, I am going to ask
Jaideep to continue from here.