Concept/Philosophy
Stacked student housing is designed so as to move away from the typical dormitory or hostel typology, which in our opinion fosters a regimented form of social control by use of single loaded corridor organizations. The challenge was to break away from the notion of stacked student housing where there is no exchange between students, owing to the tight site constraints forcing dead vertical development as a common imagination.
Program and Organization
With an aim to respond to these, a conscious design framework was introduced that facilitated opportunities for an active social and cultural life to flourish. This was done by integrating circulation and sequencing different collective programs within the hostel in the horizontal voids.
Placing common programs such as the study rooms, pantry, audio visual room, gym, indoor games areas and computer rooms on different floors adjacent to the stairs and overlooking into the inner street formed by the stacked corridors, accelerated interaction of students across multiple floors making it vibrant and socially sustainable.
The other element was to establish the connection of this new hostel block with the surrounding built and playground on the existing campus site. This was achieved by extending the podium level as a double height viewing deck that overlooked the grounds. The podium floor of the building is looked at as a 24 hour living courtyard. The student dining and kitchen has been embedded into the ground floor which is overlooked from a few voids of the podium. As the kitchen would need high serviceability it has been kept away from the student activities of the building on the ground floor closer to the back entrance.
Special features
DESIGN beyond Aesthetics
Breathable façades
Sustainability plays a prime role in the design of the hostel; the west and east façade act as sun breakers and screens the glass windows of the student rooms. The need for a screen primarily arises with an intent to respond to climate needs and provide cross ventilation to every room. However the design of the screen in itself becomes an expression of the school becoming a characteristic that one sees from afar while approaching the VJTI campus by road.
Community spaces as landmarks
The south side of the building forms a welcoming entrance with an amphitheater and multiple seating areas overlooked by the suspended TV room and terraces above. The play of volumes as solid mass and voids are designed to not only respond to the views and provide climatic responses but become social landmarks.
