Think about this — whilst you’re busy tapping in your laptop computer, you might be surrounded by lush inexperienced vegetation, bushes and water our bodies operating simply beside you. If you happen to suppose I’m
Think about this — whilst you’re busy tapping in your laptop computer, you might be surrounded by lush inexperienced vegetation, bushes and water our bodies operating simply beside you. If you happen to suppose I’m speaking a couple of ‘workcation’ among the many mountains, you’re incorrect. I’m speaking about an workplace area within the metropolis of Bengaluru, which isn’t only a constructing however an architectural marvel.
What seems like an enormous floating cruise ship is an open-air campus that doesn’t have any air con because it stays naturally cool. “The place was designed in such a approach that it harmonises with the lake and greenery across the location,” says Swetha A, the lead architect of Mindspace Architects who designed this marvel.
The Higher India spoke with Swetha to achieve insights into the agency’s design philosophy.
A philosophy rooted in humanity and nature
Based by Sanjay Mohe, Vasuki Prakash, and Suryanarayanan, the architectural agency is dedicated to revolutionary and sustainable design.
“Mindspace Architects is pushed by the thought of making areas that enrich the lives of individuals,” Swetha says. “Our structure focuses on encouraging interplay and making a dialogue between the consumer and the areas they inhabit.”
The agency’s human-centric method can be pushed by its urge to mix nature with design. “We try to create experiences that have interaction and nourish the senses,” she provides. “We use ‘gentle’ as a constructing materials and respect the 5 senses — sight, sound, scent, contact, and style — whereas working with the 5 parts of nature.”
Local weather performs a vital function of their designs, particularly within the tropical context of India. “We work in direction of creating naturally comfy inner situations. Our purpose is to combine nature into the constructed type, blurring the hole between outside and indoor,” Swetha explains.
The Titan Integrity workplace in Bengaluru is a primary instance of the agency’s ideology, but it surely’s not the one one. Karunashraya in Bengaluru, a hospice for terminally sick sufferers, stands out as a big challenge by the corporate.
The Hindustan Unilever Analysis Middle in Bengaluru additional showcases Mindspace Architects’ dedication to harnessing pure forces. Swetha shares that its courtyards and verandahs seamlessly merge the indoor and outside areas, permitting birds to fly via.
The Vellore Worldwide Faculty in Chennai is one other instance of their rules in motion. “We designed the campus to answer Chennai’s scorching, tropical local weather by orienting buildings to seize sea breezes and protect from the extreme Western solar,” Swetha explains. “The structure fosters a dynamic studying setting, with school rooms surrounded by courtyards and quite a few open areas selling each targeted examine and collaborative actions.”
Designing the Titan Integrity workplace
The chance to design the Titan Integrity workplace got here via a closed competitors organised by Titan Firm Ltd, with participation from six architects, Swetha informs.
“We offered two distinct choices, and the corporate chosen the second possibility primarily based on its response to the biophilic design transient,” she recollects. The design aimed to foster a satisfying reference to nature, selling well being, health, and total well-being.
The central idea of making a ‘bio lake’ influenced the design. “The bio lake, positioned on the japanese aspect of the location, harmonises with the pure and natural contours of the prevailing lake,” she says. The workplace buildings and all of the amenities are positioned round this bio lake to emphasize the panoramic views and immerse customers in a peaceable setting.
The workplace is situated on a 6.5-acre website with a lake on the japanese aspect. The design takes full benefit of the location’s pure options. The constructing is oriented in such a approach that its longer aspect faces north-south, permitting glare-free pure gentle into the area. Porosity in planning and type permits steady motion of breeze, guaranteeing pure air flow.
Swetha additionally emphasises that she targeted on merging aesthetics with sustainability. “The three-floor construction has terrace gardens at each degree, paying homage to cascading rice fields,” Swetha notes. The terraces present insulation to the workplace areas under, lowering warmth and aligning with the idea of a sustainable constructing.
The terraces additionally supply outside working areas and trails for leisurely walks. “A stroll alongside the inexperienced stroll path covers round 650 metres,” Swetha provides. “Over time, greenery on the receding terraces will embrace the constructed type, making it a non-building.”
The design of the Titan Integrity workplace displays Titan’s core values of design edge, innovation, ethics, and belief. “The constructing is a ‘nature campus’ with thickly wooded bushes and water our bodies. The mix of low-rise buildings surrounded by panorama, water our bodies, walkways, and outside assembly areas creates an setting akin to a college,” she says.
Additionally they used pure supplies within the building to observe their thought of sustainability. Swetha notes that they used cobblestones and unpolished granite for pathways. The outside partitions are dry-clad in granite with an insulating air hole, which helps scale back the ambient temperature of the interiors.
The Titan Integrity workplace boasts a number of distinctive architectural options. Swetha explains that the workplace has a central backbone alongside the sting of the clear water physique, which is a double-height linear area. This space contains extensive steps, courtyards, product show partitions, seating, and casual assembly areas, all resulting in an atrium that connects to the eating block by the serene water physique.
Trying forward, Mindspace Architects plans to innovate and increase. “We’re presently concerned in numerous thrilling initiatives in Bhopal and Bhubaneswar,” Swetha shares. She concludes, “Our structure is about taking inhabitants on a journey via time and area, gentle and darkness, unfolding layers and volumes, and stimulating the senses.”
(Edited by Khushi Arora; All photographs credit score: Mindspace Architects)
