Sheet 02ArchitectureSemester 5At the scale of a site

Interactions

A library for Mumbai University’s Kalina campus, in two buildings with a semi-open passage between them.

Brief: A library on the Kalina campus: reading rooms, a children’s library, a digital library, a writers’ lounge, an event hall, a café and a bookstore
Site: Mumbai University, Kalina · tropical wet and dry climate · 2,200–2,500 mm of rain a year
Drawings: Site and climate analysis, form development, programme, seating sketches

Hand-drawn semi-open seating corner: a figure sits at a round table beside brick walls laid as an open jaali that lets light and air through. — 01Semi-open seating. A brick jaali lets the air and the light in.

The site

A campus junction, with a hard western sun.

The site sits at a road junction on the campus, between the examination hall, an international students’ hostel and two research centres. Students, staff and faculty would be the library’s first users; commuters and neighbours passing the junction the next.

Most buildings around it turn away from the west and the harsh afternoon sun. The wind comes from the south-west, and the southern edge of the site is thick with trees, mimosa, banana, palm, banyan and champa, worth keeping for shade.

Macro plan of the Kalina campus: roads and the river edge drawn in soft terracotta lines, the site block shaded at the centre. — 02Macro plan, Mumbai University, Kalina.

Micro plan of the site: a dashed boundary among trees, wrapped by a large crescent showing the path of the sun, with arrows for wind and access. — 03Micro plan, with the sun path and access.

Surrounding context plan: the site at a road junction among a students’ hostel, a nanoscience centre, a biotechnology research centre and the examination hall, with notes on sun and wind. — 04Surrounding context.

Four circular plans of the surroundings marking where people gather in the morning, afternoon, evening and at night. — 05Where people gather: morning, afternoon, evening, night.

Two street sections of the main roads to the site, with buildings, trees, people, an autorickshaw and a bus drawn in line. — 06Sections of the main roads leading to the site.

Form development

Six moves, from one block to two.

Step 1: a single terracotta block standing on its green site.

Step 2: the block split into two parts by function.

Step 3: two blocks with a dark central circulation core between them.

Step 4: a U-shaped mass opening around an entrance court.

Step 5: two staggered blocks reshaped for sunlight and ventilation.

Step 6: the final massing in layered bands on a dark site.

01
Go up, and keep the trees.
A single block, built vertically to preserve the vegetation on site.
02
Split it by what it does.
The block divides into two buildings, each holding its own functions.
03
Put the stair between them.
Central circulation in the gap, with a view out to the green.
04
Open a way in.
The mass opens into a U, to form a grand entrance.
05
Turn to the sun and the wind.
The shape changes for sunlight and ventilation.
06
Add and take away.
Mass added and subtracted for the final form.

Loading the model

Step through the form

A 3D model, made for this site from my drawings.

Concept

The passage at the centre.

Two ideas hold the design together. Form and function: the library’s functions are split between two blocks, and the semi-covered passage and open staircase between them are the centre of the building.

Body and building: to get from one block to the other you have to pass through a semi-open space, and feel the temperature and the light on the way. The façades are open too, with large openings.

Sketch of informal outdoor seating: a raised triangular lawn under three trees, with people sitting and lying on it. — 07Informal outdoor seating, under the trees.

Climate

Kept cool by shade and breeze.

Orientation diagram: the building with hot afternoon sun from the west, gentle morning sun from the east, and direct and indirect light from south and north. — 08Sun and orientation.

Kalina is hot and humid, so the library leans on passive cooling and less on air conditioning. Long, narrow blocks let the breeze through; trees are planted on the west; windows are shaded; vertical sunbreakers and a space frame carrying solar panels take the worst of the sun.

The materials are chosen for the same climate: exposed concrete for the walls and slabs, timber for windows and cladding, terrazzo or terracotta underfoot, wood for acoustics, and solar-control glass, which lets in daylight with less of its heat.

Programme

The noisy rooms on the ground floor.

The public parts are at ground level: an event hall, a café, a bookstore and the children’s library. The main library climbs through every floor above them, and the top floor opens onto a terrace and a garden.

Third floorMain library · terrace seating · horticulture garden

Second floorMain library · writers’ lounge · digital library

First floorMain library · exhibition · administration

Ground floorEvent hall · reception · café · bookstore · children’s library

Academic work, Semester 5, Architectural Design.