SITE:

The site is located adjacent to the Pune International Airport with the project brief calling for Grade-A commercial offices. Among the challenges were the acoustic pollution caused by civilian and military jets, a severe summer, lack of continuous power and water availability by the municipality connections and the client's desire to create a unique and welcoming environment for the technology complex.

 

PROCESS:

Immediately the project design aesthetic considerations were regulated by the technical problems faced on the site. The lack of consistent power provided an opportunity to experiment with a vast array of sustainable, conservation and alternative power generation techniques. The masterplan presented to the client a cohesive and comprehensive design that will reduce peak time energy consumption, reduce overall energy consumption and create power at peak time usage while presenting the end users of the project with a comfortable and highly adaptable workspace.

 

The building massing on site was coordinated with the site topography to create acoustically shielded open areas from the noise pollution of the airport and the building mass strategy was made so that service areas were oriented towards high thermal mass and noise pollution directions.

 

The site design was centered around a large waterbody that would help regulate ambient temperature and create a comfortable micro climate. It functions as part of the water recycling and rain-water harvesting facility. Further, under the water body was planned a “District Cooling” plant that creates ice at night which is stored for cooling during the day. This system takes advantage of off-peak energy so that day time lighting loads may be directly from the site Solar plant.

 

FLEXIBILITY:

Working from the perspective of the end-user clients, this project is designed to facilitate a highly flexible and user friendly work environment. Everything from the security screening process, the automobile and pedestrian circulation, the parking layouts to the sequence of internal building lobbies have been designed to be easy to navigate. The office layouts are designed to be highly adaptable for changing layouts from 5k to 50k sq.ft. footprints without affecting the layouts for HVAC units, server rooms, fire security, plumbing shafts and internal circulation.

 

ENVIRONMENT:

Ultimately, the complex has been designed to create a relaxing and impressive work environment. The entire sequence leading from the newly created lake to the main lobby of the project, the 'cliff-top' squash courts, the lakeside gyms and restaurants, the sculpture gardens, the internal 'Water Courts' and the unprecedented view corridors from the office designed with worker ergonomics all lead to an overall quality of tranquility and belonging to the commercial complex.