architectural thesis on school in india

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How educational institutions' architecture shapes young minds

By Gauri Kelkar

The instinctive, visceral reaction is always sensory—the white institutional light, the shrill sound of the bell at the end of a period, the thundering footsteps tearing down the stairs or out the gates at the end of the day. Or it’s all emotion—the apprehension on the first day; learning with new teachers, or being harangued by them, joy when recess kicks in. Reminders of school typically stay stuck on the experience. The space, the building, the classrooms, the structure and its surroundings are always a backdrop, so much so that you wonder whether the building (which is what it typically always is) where you spent the most important years of your childhood even matters. The short answer is yes, it does. That place called school that has stuck on, lodging itself in the recesses of the mind, is perhaps more telling in its impact than in and of itself.

The architecture of a school, the volumes and the voids, the closed spaces and the open fields, have an unknowable, intangible impact—on how we learn, how we interact, and how it influences us. Louis Kahn knew it when he was tasked with building the now-iconic Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad (IIMA), and recently saved from being relegated to the ashes of a forgotten past. Education and imparting it in the right way was at the heart of this decision. The IIMA, in fact, is, according to Suchi Reddy, a “gold standard” for academic design. “Kahn’s masterful weave of solidity and transparency creates a secure and open experience at the same time—a grounding place for those formative experiences,” says the founder of the New York-based practice Reddymade.  

IIM Ahmedabad campus

A New Way of Learning

Back in 1961, a bunch of industrialists were in talks with Harvard Business School to develop a school that was solely focused on educating future generations on specific professions that would facilitate the growth of India’s very nascent industry. The idea then was to build a school that supplemented the concept of western-style of learning—with discussions and an atmosphere where students could engage easily with teachers. The best-suited structure, right down to the materials used to construct it even, has always been integral to learning. Architect Diana Kellogg of her eponymous New York-based practice says, “I think conscientious design and attention to materials, especially for an educational institution, is key to elevating the building with the hopes to inspire. You have to be mindful with the design: considerate to cultural traditions while incorporating new technologies. The combination helps to empower the children so they feel cared about and also safe.”

By Divya Mishra

By Komal Sharma

By Ashna Lulla

Girl students from the local village, dressed in their Sabyasachi uniforms, play in the courtyard. Photo credit: Bharath Ramamrutham

The interior curve of the courtyard at the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls School in Jaisalmer. The courtyard acts as a water-harvesting facility with a cistern in the middle. The rare fruit trees were preserved within the oval with steps around for the girls to play and sit in the shade. Photo credit: Bharath Ramamrutham

“‘Educate a boy and you educate an individual. Educate a girl and you educate a community.’ I read it somewhere in India,” says Kellogg. Photo credit: Bharath Ramamrutham

Building Minds

Architects sensitive to context have always appreciated the value of design of academic institutions, as do educators and those invested in cultivating the minds of generations and understand the importance of catching them young. As Reddy says, “Academic institutions are the place where young minds are formed; therefore, we cannot underestimate the impact that the design of these institutions can have in shaping these minds.” Her approach is founded not just in her design ethos as an architect but her background in neuroaesthetics, “the science of how our environment and experiences shape us. I cannot stress enough on the importance of thoughtful design of these institutions. People design their individuality and find their place in the collective in this space, and they must be supported with design that nurtures that experience. How can we create a great culture if we do not nurture it?”  In a world left much improved by the works of legends who understood this responsibility of architecture at a deeply intuitive level and shouldered it with remarkable grace, we are certainly not lacking in a long and abiding legacy to turn to and learn from. For Reddy, India’s contribution to that legacy comes in the form of Kahn’s IIMA and Doshi’s Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) in Ahmedabad. “The [CEPT] campus where I had the privilege of teaching a workshop in 2019 is a luminous example that creates a subtle intertwining of the interior and exterior, the individual and the communal. You can see this balance and harmony reflected in the creativity of the students.” 

Balkrishna Doshi, School of Architecture, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, 1968. Photo credit: Vinay Panjwani India

Nature—and Nurture

A product of CEPT, Khushnu Panthaki Hoof, partner at the Ahmedabad-based Vastushilpa Consultants, and granddaughter of 2018 Pritzker prize winner Doshi, believes in the inescapable value of this kind of indoor-outdoor synergy as well. “The experience of architecture is not just visual but tactile, intertwined with space and body movement in time. I believe architecture impacts our behaviour pattern and affects us emotionally, intellectually and physically.” And that takes on considerably more significance when it comes to learning, engaging the mind and opening it to discoveries, “where the elasticity between named places and unnamed spaces encourages the way we interact with each other and the surrounding landscape”. Hoof’s belief in the importance of design on learning draws on her own experience. “The fluidity between defined places and liminal spaces for me is the most important aspect of design.” To quote a cliché, learning goes beyond the four walls of a classroom—and quite literally.  It isn’t about a static, passive relationship between a teacher who talks and students who listen. So much of education is about discovery, about allowing the mind to wander. And much of that involves in creating physical spaces that encourage, cultivate and prod the latent curiosity present in all of us, in facilitating an environment that nurtures the desire to learn. “A change in the pace of movement interspersed with elements of stillness aids curiosity to learn, explore and generate dialogues. So, academic institutions should be designed in a way that the mind has space to wander and kindle discovery,” asserts Hoof. It is a sentiment that Reddy echoes, with her advocating the idea of ‘forest schools’. “I have become a huge advocate and proponent of [forest schools]; to have students learn in nature in the outdoors, where their senses are not dulled but heightened. Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan was so far ahead of our time in this regard, a model of learning that I think we need to re-examine and re-integrate into our troubled times.” While surely Shantiniketan was ahead of its time, it was also rooted in the history of India’s gurukul system where students stayed in the humble home of their guru secluded from towns and surrounded by nature, as much of a teacher as the guru.

A Look Back for the Way Ahead

Nature, light, open spaces—invaluable tools in the arsenal of the thoughtful architect and formidable components of any enduring structure—are at play in such well-planned and carefully designed institutions. Where massed volumes and staggered connections that allow for movements of light through vast halls and corridors speak to a sublime choreography that springs forth from a sensitivity to the environment. It’s something the CP Kukreja-designed Gautam Buddha University in Noida, sprawled over 500 acres, has in ample doses. “We created an urban forest so one could leave the humdrum and trivial of the city outside and enter the educational environment,” asserts Dikshu Kukreja, principal architect at the New Delhi-based architectural practice.  Supplementing that thought is the idea that academic institutions go beyond just impacting learning but focusing on the right kind of messaging too. “I believe that the important message that we need to send to the youth who are going to be the future of our society can be easily presented through the design of their academic institutions. We should be able to communicate the concern of our environment or creating sustainable living.” 

Pathways World School Aravali, designed by CP Kukreja

Delhi Public School Society’s HRD Centre designed by CP Kukreja. Photo credit: Kapil Kamra

What better way to do that than in leading through example. The firm that has for the past five decades focused on thoughtful, considered architecture that mines regional contexts to create enduring structures, walks the talk in its approach and execution, evidenced in their projects, such as the Pathways World School Aravali in Gurgaon. “We did not want to restrict student learning to subjects, such as history and art appreciation, to their classrooms alone. Therefore, the entire campus has sculptures, antiques and artworks interspersed abundantly across its landscape. The feedback we received from the administrators was great because students walked past these works every day through their corridors, they began to not only learn about them but also appreciate art.”  That academic knowledge can be imparted through an unconventional approach has been evident in CEPT, too, the perennial example of a stalwart institute of learning, where the MF Hussain-Doshi collaboration Gufa, an artistic endeavour of fantastical proportions, sits close to the campus. “CEPT’s proximity and connection to Gufa is a wonderful artistic catalyst to both the physical and energetic life of that institution,” says Reddy. The belief that learning is deeply affected by context, circumstance, state of mind, state of surroundings is certainly not new. Deep research by scientists has borne out the importance of a diverse range of issues that impact learning (even the colours used in kindergarten and primary schools play a not inconsiderable role). But the architecture of such temples of learning—the volumes of the spaces, the functions of the rooms, the cleverness in their layout, the restraint in building, in being directed by nature and context—is as integral to shaping, moulding, cultivating and sensitising impressionable young minds as the teachers who stand as custodians of such institutes. Kellogg, for instance, while working on the design and layout of the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girl’s School in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, found inspiration in the METI Handmade School in Bangladesh. “[I] was incredibly impressed. This school to me embodied the essence of what a project like this should be about: the use of traditional materials and built by local craftsmen: beautiful, functional and built by the community,” she explains. She is currently working on a school for a tribal community in Andhra Pradesh “following a similar approach as the bamboo will be gathered locally and the community will build it themselves”. And in a world coming to grips with isolation in a post-pandemic age, where such academic institutions became high-risk environments due to close contact and the sheer number of people moving about, architecture, academia and learning has perhaps taken on greater significance and requires deeper thinking. “I think one of the important lessons of the pandemic has been in the field of teaching and learning in our new remote ways,” says Reddy  Architecture and its effect on learning is an enduring reality that, if imbibed and acted on can help transform education in the best way possible. Kahn did it with IIMA, as did Doshi with CEPT—as many discerning architects who look at the bigger picture and work for the greater good continue to do.

Photography by Bharath Ramamrutham

By Nivedita Jayaram Pawar

Photography by Rahul Jain

By Avantika Shankar

Photography by Link Studio

By Nolan Lewis

A Rural Indian School Demonstrates How Government, Private Enterprise, and Good Design Can Work Together

Andhra pradesh, india.

Architects & Firms

After completing the transformation of an abandoned watch factory into a much-publicized Montessori school in its home city of Bengaluru, India, in 2014, architecture firm Collective Project received tons of inquiries for schools , says partner Eliza Higgins. Most were from for-profit institutions. Having designed one elite private school, Higgins and partner Cyrus Patell wanted more meaningful work. “Finding the right project as architects who want to have an impact is difficult, especially in education,” Higgins explains. “Schools here are typically seen as an opportunity to make money.”

The right opportunity arrived in 2016 when the Penna Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Penna Cement, one of the largest privately held cement companies in India, approached the architects with a brief to devise a prototype scheme to re-envision three existing schools, all in various stages of disrepair, built for the children of the company’s factory workers. Penna’s request—initiated through a government corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandate requiring businesses of a certain size to invest a percentage of their profits in public works—was embraced by the incoming younger generation of the family-run cement maker. Having seen Collective Project’s work for Montessori, they realized better facilities would attract better teachers, provide a higher-quality education, and ultimately be a positive force on the remote factory communities.

Located near the client’s factory, the school now has an entry pavilion (1), expansive bamboo shading (2), and large windows paired with jali screens (3). Photos © Benjamin Hosking (1 & 2); Vivek Eadara (3), click to enlarge.

Located in Andhra Pradesh, a hot, dry region of southern India, the 40,000-square-foot pre-K through 10th-grade Talaricheruvu Rural School is the first of these projects to be realized. According to Patell, the two-story L-shaped building was around 15 years old and sound, so its reinforced-concrete structure was maintained. Substantial revisions were necessary, however, to improve and expand its layout and systems. Bathrooms, at the perimeter of the two-acre site, were difficult to reach. The building’s 16 classrooms were too big, poorly planned, and in need of natural light and ventilation. And—due to the intense sun and heat of the region, where temperatures can exceed 109º Fahrenheit—lack of shade deterred outdoor activity.

Working with the cement factory’s engineers, the design team first cut through the building, opening it at central locations on the ground level to create a larger, more fluid area at grade. They then erected a series of pavilions to serve various functions. Two are bathrooms—one for boys, one for girls—now easily reached near each of the building’s wings and adjacent to the new open-air passageways (which double as library zones). The additional small-scale structures house an entrance with seats for waiting caregivers and bicycle parking, pre-K and kindergarten classrooms, storage, art, and multiuse spaces, and a cafeteria/teaching kitchen. (The school is also a vocational training ground for trades like cooking and carpentry.) The extant school’s interior was reworked, with 24 classrooms, two faculty lounges, and three labs on the two levels, plus more bathroom facilities on the upper floor—all punctuated by large windows and delicate jali screens to maximize daylight and airflow, and surfaced with Kadappa black limestone floors, made with the waste of stone processed in surrounding villages.

Outside, an expansive locally sourced–bamboo canopy supported by a lightweight metal framework—Collective Project’s most visually striking intervention—hovers around the perimeter of the old and new buildings and over roofless bathroom and entry pavilions, introducing shaded exterior corridors and plazas for gatherings and play that, when combined with the new structures, effectively doubles the usable space of the school’s original square footage. The firm also worked with nearby nurseries to plant pockets of local flora and trees around the grounds and on pavilion roofs, irrigating them with water from sewage treated at the neighboring factory. “Everything came from that area and was made there. Even the cement wash we used on the facade,” says Higgins.

Occupied during construction, which was largely completed in 2022, the school—with a capacity for 600 children—is still waiting for new furniture, smart-classroom equipment, and courts for sports like tennis and basketball, as well as a “learning landscape” on the roof. (At times, the architects had to share the engineers with their client. Further, the CSR funding is distributed annually, so when money ran out, work stopped until the next year.) “But, while the process has been slow,” says Patell, “the Penna Foundation didn’t cut anything. And they are already talking to us about the second school.” Higgins adds, “I think it’s just a matter of time and cash flow. And when they’re ready, we’ll be here.”

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Pedagogic Influences of Art and Design Schools on Architecture Education in India

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• Harshitha G. Raju   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6246-2345 7  

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This study investigates the pedagogic relevance of art and design schools that have had major influences on schools of architecture in India. The data presented is a culmination of literature review of published articles and papers and analysis of curriculum. The curriculum of top ten architecture schools as ranked by NIRF in 2020 are considered here as representative of what is largely being taught in schools of India. The conclusion of the study establishes the prevalent influences of pedagogy of art and design schools, subjects that have gained importance and vice versa, and their relevance to the future.

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Raju, H.G. (2021). Pedagogic Influences of Art and Design Schools on Architecture Education in India. In: Chakrabarti, A., Poovaiah, R., Bokil, P., Kant, V. (eds) Design for Tomorrow—Volume 2. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 222. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0119-4_18

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B.Arch Thesis – The Neighbourhood School, by Akshay Mirajkar, Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture,

• October 12, 2017

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B.Arch Thesis by Akshay Mirajkar | Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture.

In the recent times, the field of education has witnessed numerous variations on a large scale. Due to the rising commercial aspect, schools are becoming grander in terms of garnering the image of being the best one in its field. In order to sustain in this competition, schools tend to market themselves through various lucrative offers, thereby rendering the students as mere consumers of a product. Over the years, School marketing, in India and across the world, has become a booming industry, and is set to grow even further as the focus of schools is on building sustainable brands. Research shows that marketing spends are on the rise in response to the increased competition for students, staff, and resources. The aim is to attract and increase the quality of students every year, retain top faculty, increase student placement opportunities through continuous interaction with businesses, optimize cost of achievement per candidate. Also, in this scenario, misleading architectural imagery plays a significant role where it becomes the platform to attract the consumers.

Due to this rat race, quality of education suffers the most as the schools are evolving with providing various infrastructural facilities, but the quality of space required for learning has remained constant or is left unexplored. Firstly, through documentation of two city schools; the thesis studies the existing schooling scenario. Thus, after drawing conclusions from the above study, the thesis tries to answer the needs of the city through a design project.

Documentation and Analysis of two city Schools

The LFS has an oval shaped layout with a single loaded corridor connecting all the programs having service cores at each ends. Due to the large scale volume of the atrium, the noise coming from children playing in the central space causes a nuisance to the classrooms on the ground as well as the floors above. Also, the hotel like lobby space (without any windows opening on to the corridor) and the standardised composition of the programs hampers the curiosity amongst the students.

The layout of BCS consists of a long and narrow corridor which connects the classrooms in the middle and resource centres and staff space at each ends, having two service cores for the working staff and the students. The scale of the lobby causes a nuisance to the classrooms due to the noise coming from children walking or playing in the lobby and also creates a sense of suffocation, as the only opening is at the end of corridor. The hotel like lobby space and the standardised cell like composition of the programs hamper the curiosity amongst the students. On comparing the classrooms, the scale as well treatment of the interiors of them for different user age group remains the same throughout.

After studying the existing situation, it is clear that there are various schools in the city imparting education through diverse approaches, with each having its own scale of conduct. Theoretically speaking, the learning environment required for each of them should be different, based on their principles of functioning. But in practice, a standardise plan of a double or single loaded corridor with classrooms and other program spaces on either sides becomes the common ground when it comes to formulating a dedicated space for the same.

Looking at the documentation of the city based schools; the most striking flaw, which requires serious attention, would be the failure to address the curiosity of the child at any given age. Children at any age, have a tendency to know about what their schoolmates are learning, irrespective of the age group. With a walled – fortress like classroom, this desire of the child often gets unanswered.

Another major area of concern is the ignorance towards the scale of spaces. In order to maximise the space and avoid any complicated structural arrangement, the scale of the classrooms as well as other program spaces remain the same throughout all the age groups. Due to this, there is a sense of reluctance amongst the students to familiarize with the school space.

Finally, the quality of space, which differs from each institution, requires instant consideration. The learning environment required for each age group is different and depends on their psychological growth at each stage. Use of repetitive and uninteresting as well as over stimulating visuals of spaces may create a hurdle in learning by altering their thought processes. Hence, a significant amount of energy should be spent on to create a visually inspiring learning environment with equilibrium maintained between the dull as well as over doing of spaces.

Site context

Site justification

The aim is to design an institution which promotes education with an holistic approach of learning which focuses on – finding child’s true identity, meaning and purpose of his life.

The above can be achieved through connections to community, to natural world and spiritual values. Hence, such a project requires a strong neighbourhood where cross exchange of knowledge takes place between the students and the community, thus educating both of them.

With this project, apart from learning, the intervention would serve as a core to restore harmony within its people.

The site at chinchpokli is up for redevelopment, in order to upgrade and modernize the current situation. The planned project is a school tower at the present site which will accommodate all the requirements. And thus, can be a blunder of the past mistakes.

Hence, to avoid the above scenario, the designed project will thus serve as a proposal to the redevelopment project and also, to the city as an example of a school with an out of the box approach of learning which takes cues from its own people and nature when it comes to facilitate education in a dense neighbourhood.

Analytical plans

On closely studying the movement patterns, it is clear that majority of the students, learning in this institution reside in the close proximity of the institute. Currently, the institute does not provide any seating or waiting area for the parents who have come to drop of their children. Due to this, they are forced to wait at the school gate causing traffic jam and inconvenience to other residents.

Site scenario

The part of the School building which faces the main road has been rented out for commercial activities like Doctor’s clinic, private office spaces, government post office, etc. Also, there is a line of shops thronging along the northern edge of the school plot, which is backed by an old deserted warehouse. There is a public recreational ground on the rear side of the school plot, but it does not have any official access to it. A tertiary road leads up to the open space, but it is blocked by a temple and a private office.

Program derived and Idea spring point –

The main aim of the project was to design a knowledge hub, thereby enhancing the learning process, emotionally as well as physically. The program to be derived should be based on the holistic learning of the students i.e. not binding within the four walls of the school. Hence, Special programs like a community centre is included which would encourage cross exchange of knowledge within the students and the parents as well as the society (neighbourhood). Based on the idea of interpreting ‘Education – as solving a mystery’, a series of pause points guides the program chain whereby the RG becomes the revelation in this circulation. The practice of the institution should not be bound to its students, but should also be learning as well as a social hub for the local residents. In this way, the school actually becomes an indirect connection between the neighbourhood and the recreational ground.

Design development

Based on the Idea, the situational analysis and the program chain derived, the design was developed in such a way that two third part of the plot will have the maximum programs in it (oriented by the introduction of an axis), while the one third fronting the main road will have the drop off zone (private entrance) and a small recreation area. The deserted warehouse was demolished and the shops were relocated in such a way that the roof (ramp) of the relocated shops becomes a secondary entrance to the school, thereby giving an access to programs like the Community Centre (a café, lecture hall and workshop hall) and the RG.

Exploded isometric view

Ground floor plan

Floor plans

Sections, Elevations and detail

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One Response

Loved the design. Overall, most of the aspects has been taken care of, which is quite impressive. Though, I couldn’t see the area of the Site. Let me know if it is there and I missed out.

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MODULAR/PRE-FAB ARCHITECTURE IN RURAL EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN INDIA

2016, Dissertation, School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi

It is established as a matter of fact that Modular/ prefab architecture is a highly efficient and sustainable method of construction in terms of the time taken to finish a building and energy consumed in the process. However, even after its capabilities have been recognized, it is not popular in the construction industry, especially in India. It has failed to recognize itself with the masses because of its difficult designing process which requires high levels of coordination amongst parties and stakeholders and its unappealing appearance due to repetitive modules. Nevertheless, this research is an attempt on giving cues for re-evaluating modularity by integrating it with the pre-existing vernacular techniques in India, to give rise to a novel form of pre-fabricated architecture which would be specific to the regions it is used in. Through this endeavour, the research tries to give a strong, stable and permanent solution to the problem of lack of school buildings in rural India. Modular architecture when combined with the vernacular knowledge of a place can be an answer to the question.

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Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre / Formline Architecture + Urbanism

• Curated by Clara Ott
• Architects: Formline Architecture + Urbanism
• Area Area of this architecture project Area:  620 m²
• Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2017
• Photographs Photographs: Andrew Latreille
• Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:   Aurubis , C.R. Laurence , Owens Corning , Interface , Ames Tile & Stone , Bobrick , CBR Products , Contech Construction , Flextile , Hunter Douglas , JSV Architectural Veneering & Millwork , K.N. Crowder MFG. , Nicola Logworks , Samson Metals , Sound Concepts , Standard Aluminum Products , Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation
• Structural Engineer : Bush Bohlman & Partners
• Mechanical : Smith + Andersen
• Electrical : Applied Engineering Solutions
• Design / Executive Architect:  Alfred Waugh
• Project Architect:  Manny Trinca
• Production Architect:  Vince Knudsen
• Code Consultant:  LMDG
• City:  Vancouver
• Country:  Canada
• Did you collaborate on this project?

Text description provided by the architects. Nestled between the Irving K Barber Learning Centre and the Koerner Library located at the centre of Canada’s second largest university, this project unifies architectural themes of memory and social dialogue. This is a place for re-thinking the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canadian society and a centre for dialogue for community members and scholars and a powerful recognition of Indigenous culture and history in the heart of the campus. This two-level facility is comprised of a portion of existing basement space in Koerner Library and new construction above on the mid-level plaza leading from Koerner Library to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

Drawing on community engagement, emergent technologies, and collaborative approaches, the IRSHDC aims to facilitate informed dialogue and more transparent information practices. As a framework that seeks to privilege respectful, equitable and innovative access to records and information, the IRSHDC’s developing systems and space of inquiry can model a new platform for information stewardship, particularly relating to collections that hold records of traumatic events – one that is pluralistic and seeks to support agency.

The physical displacement of architectonic volumes becomes an analogue to the reconciliation process itself, which is first obliged to mark ruptures, and then seeks to heal them. At the request of Linc Kesler the previous Director of the House of Learning the building must capture the Indigenous Spirit without representing any one Nation. The building is designed with the intention of unifying themes of memory, symbolism reflecting the diversity of Indigenous Peoples.

Key Building Elements: •           Copper Roof - The Chief’s Copper represents the dignity of the Coast Salish peoples. •           Charred Cedar Planks - The charred cladding is symbolic of the scarring of residential school survivors. The planks, once charred, are more resilient, reflective of the strengths of Survivors and their families. •           Abundant glazing - Generous glazing and direct connection to the surrounding landscape was a request from Musqueam residential school survivors - “There may be emotional response to the past and it is important to pause and reflect and look out and be connected to nature wherever you are in the building”. •           Glass Waterfall- A rainwater accent feature on the lower level symbolizes the tears of survivors who suffered traumatic experiences in residential schools. •           Woven Cedar Wall- As you descend the stairs to the exhibit space a grand woven cedar wall on one side of the stairs represents the basket weaving.

The building is designed to LEED Gold standards employing low velocity displacement ventilation, a high-performance envelope, and a structure of CLT roof, and walls and perimeter glulam columns. Concealed w-section steel beams above the CLT roof panels with riveted connections avoid drop beams and allow for generous thin overhangs. 

The dialogue of the building and the reconfigured landscape bowel reinvigorates this part of the campus creating a place for students to pause and reflect.  There is serene confidence and new optimism for indigeneity that can now take its place amongst Canada’s most powerful institutions, and that it has become prospective, not just retrospective.

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Project location

Address: university of british columbia, vancouver, bc, canada.

Materials and Tags

• Sustainability

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印第安寄宿学校历史和对话中心 / Formline Architecture + Urbanism

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projected cantilevers and recessed windows in vibrant hues shape school in india

Shreyas patil architects fosters learning and play.

Shreyas Patil Architects builds KLE Sanskruti Pre-primary School in Nipani, India , like a toy house. The massing has been designed with certain innocence in its rather rudimentary shapes and geometries. Entire forms of playful construction in projected cantilevers with recessed windows alongside triangles punctuating the facade makes the elevation of the school block, shaded in tones of white, cheddar, and deep cyan. The space additionally is designed by the drive of climate responsiveness — an essential criterion for learning spaces. Made possible with architecture responsive to stack effects, north lighting, and cross ventilation, a space that imparts an atmosphere of learning, reflection and sensitivity is created. 

a toy house: shaped from stacked geometric volumes

Designed with care, Sanskruti Pre-primary School’s architecture embraces a playful ambiance that sparks joy and ignites curiosity in every child. Sunlit classrooms with dual-colored walls create a warm and inviting atmosphere for young learners to thrive, while spacious play areas dotted with interactive elements encourage physical activity and imaginative play. Shreyas Patil Architects styles the south-facing facade with triangular windows — some isosceles, most equilateral, but both make for interesting perspectives looking out. These windows, though, are not simply a design element; their function in the harmonious working of every element in this building is focal. From the first ring of the bell till the last, passing sunlight casts interestingly shaped shadows into the learning spaces and the triple-height court. Everything that is required for a conducive and effective learning environment.

A dual entrance on the southern front allows for the movement of the usual traffic, while a sloped entrance leads directly into the nursery’s play area. Both accesses are monitored by the centrally positioned principal’s cabin. Each floor hosts three classrooms, an activity room, and a set of his and her washrooms. The nursery’s activity room is fitted with floor to ceiling window casements to maximize the natural illumination of the volume. A shaded garden court across this space encourages learning amidst nature. Additionally, play areas on each floor ensure that students are constantly engaged with their cognition, while also continuously developing their physical, emotional, and social well-being.

vibrant tricolor scheme wraps Sanskruti Pre-primary school

A vitrified tile, mimicking a Kota grey complements the youthful tricolor theme, while the classrooms’ interior shelving takes cues from the theme of the architecture. A scatter of planter boxes on the facade, and the east and west fronts breaks the monotony of the massing. In front of recessed windows, these planter boxes also help in negating the requirements for chajjas.

From the boldest of shapes to the minutest of details, design in context to its users has been the central focus. For instance, a customized triangular-edged handrail to support a smaller grip, diagonally oriented grills to ensure safety, and a hundred- and twenty-mm staircase risers to suit the anthropometry of a child. ‘A school can only be as productive as the students within are motivated,’ notes the team at Shreyas Patil Architects.

project info:

name: KLE Sanskruti Pre-primary school architecture: Shreyas Patil Architects

design team: Shounak Nakadi, Pooja Desai, Sayali Gunjikar

location: Nipani, India

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom

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