Designed for encouraging the growing power loom & handloom industries in the rich textile belt of Erode-Tirupur-Coimbatore, Texvalley is a bold initiative by the Ministry of Textiles to put up an integrated state of the art complex for marketing & purchasing of textile products. Situated strategically at the edge of the Erode city along the national highway, the challenge was to provide a conspicuous satellite centre to the existing old city markets for the local vendors, manufacturers, suppliers to showcase their products to national & international buyers.
The project comprises of three major blocks, namely the Weekly Market, the Trade Fair Complex & the Super Mart building. The design evolved from the dynamics of the site & the functional aspects of the program which demanded an axial planning & hierarchy in spaces within & outside the buildings. The geometry of the “Meenakshi” Temple is highlighted into the design planning, resulting an interflow of series of open spaces into the built forms. The three blocks are woven along a strong longitudinal axis which constitutes a pedestrian movement at an elevated level along with a parallel vehicular movement at the ground level. The pedestrian axis commences with an entrance plaza to the weekly market and elevates further to a floor height walkway, overlooking into the split levels within the weekly market before terminating into a central open elevated plaza.
The elevated plaza has a series of water fountains & soft landscapes to facilitate cool breezes into the buildings placed along. On one side, the plaza opens down into a central green landscape, carved out from the natural rock formation allowing free-flowing walkways around kiosks & water bodies, while on the other two sides it flows into the Super mart building & the Trade fair complex.
The Weekly market has variable volumes due to the vertically split levels with inward looking series of courtyards running parallel to the corridors. Instead of partition walls, white floor markers demarcate the individual kiosks similar to the nature of indigenous local street markets. The building therefore visibly is a see-through volume horizontally as well as vertically which garners diffused light from the dynamic tensile roof atop with diagonally spanning transparent surfaces.
The Trade Fair Complex rests perfectly between the weekly market & the Super Mart building, primarily functioning as a convention cum exhibition centre stretched into double height volumes & triple height atriums. The building also has a 3-star restaurant & hotel facilities with guest rooms on the third tier & a roof top swimming pool, sun-deck & barbeque area.
The Super mart building derives its design from traditional courtyard planning favorable for the hot & humid conditions. The building ascends from the N-E corner towards the S-W corner to create multiple-level green terraces, curbing down the heat intake from the roof into the building. Use of shading devices such as vertical fins, overhead canopies & dead walls on the west / South west facades results in considerable amount of decrease in heat intake.
Considering the dry & arid climate of the region, passive strategies of design were incorporated to maximize day-lighting & minimize heat gain. A series of courtyards accentuates the flow of air into the corridors running along them thus resulting in substantial reduction of energy required for mechanical means of ventilation. Use of green terraces at different level on the building & along the pedestrian plazas also helps in reducing the temperature. Water fountains & cascades are strategically located in & around the buildings so that the flowing breeze gathers moisture along its run. A thoughtful application of materials like exposed fly ash bricks, hollow concrete blocks & exposed cement concrete minimizes the use of cement plaster & other finishing materials thus earning valuable carbon credits. Energy conserving features such as sewage water treatment plant (treated water to be utilized for toilets & landscape), rain water harvesting & solar panels for general lighting are the other highlights of the project.
This project is one of the many which epitomizes Creative Group’s sustained ideology of Green Architecture through passive design strategies, traditional planning with innovative technologies & sustainable principles of building development & operations. With more than four decades of professional practice, Creative group has won many National & International competitions including mega projects like Kamraj Domestic & Anna International Terminal in Chennai, Airports at Raipur, Vadodara & Goa.
Design Team: Ar.Charanjit.S.Shah, Ar.Gurpreet Shah & team.
