KNOW THE PAST / CHALLENGE THE PRESENT / CREATE THE FUTURE: DESIGN AND INNOVATION ACADEMY, AHMADABAD-INDIA

GRADUATION PROJECT

Instuctors: C. Abdi Güzer, Lale Özgenel, Kadri Atabaş, Nadide Gür, Ece Yoltay

D&I Academy

Ahmedabad is the first world heritage city in India. It has a diverse and colorful culture. It has a hot semi-arid climate and a high amount of sunny days. Solutions for hot days vary in Indian architecture. One of them is using thick masonry or concrete wall. These walls help to cool the space, create shadow and control the air movement. Evaporative cooling also another feature that seen in Indian architecture. Neighboring countries solve this problem by using windcatchers. This system also resembles the evaporative cooling system of Indian architecture. I inspired these features and I designed series of walls that create wind corridors. Then I placed windcatchers end of the corridors and collected wind that created in the corridor. These walls also create shadows for open space activities which is an important part of Indian Culture.  Also, I used these walls to organize the spaces on the site. 

The site is located near many cultural features. There is an already cultural axis that starts from Sanskar Kendra Museum and ends with Riverfront Event Center. Also, there is a green axis on the riverfront, and housing units were located western part. And on the wall diagram, we can see the main principle of walls. While searching the traditional windcatchers, I found that the Iranian types are closer to the ground than Egyptian types because of the wind speed and pressure. So the created pressure will help me to collect enough wind for passive cooling and ventilation purposes.

There is a green flow which ones from the riverfront and cultural flow from the cultural axis, and public flow from the western part. I want to connect these three flows on the site and make my building 3rd landmark in this area. While organizing the programmatic elements, I considered these three flows. I placed the cultural building on the cultural axis and accommodation units in the northern part. And, I placed productivity and creativity spaces that are open to the interaction between the academy and the public in the middle of the site. 

In the site plan, you can see the connection bridges between the site and the riverfront. And, one of them continues to the Sanskar Kendra Museum so that there will be a continuous cultural flow.  The vehicular approach is from the eastern part and in the western part, I have a pedestrian route that enables the public to experience academic life and attend any workshops if there are any. Also, I consider the walls as exhibition walls as well so that people can see the artwork and product of the academy while walking around. 

In the site sections, you can see the relationship between the site and surrounding buildings. And windcatcher relations with the building. 

In the ground floor plan, you can see the spaces in more detail. I consider the openings of the wind corridors as public open spaces and I have an open cinevision area near the seasonal pool, a festival area in the middle, and an area for the creativity cubicles in the northern part. That cubicles also open for public usage.

In the culture building, I have a theatre hall, foyer, backstage, and 3 artists rooms on this floor and exhibition area, and a terrace on the upper floor. 

On the accommodation part, I have 2 blocks for 4+1 units, 2 blocks for 2+1 units, and 1 block for 1 person users. Housing plans are the same on the upper floors as well. 

As a new understanding of design education, I think we need more interlocked and multidisciplinary spaces. Also, freedom in space will be very important. Users need to create their own privacy level according to their needs. So that I want studios to have a visual and physical connection and I arrange them accordingly. Also, I have a meeting area between the studios that will serve for presentations and can be part of the studio. Also, I have a common creativity area in which all different disciplines can come together and share their ideas. There will happen eating activities, leisure time activities, and social club activities. Moreover, to give users more freedom, I will use movable furniture and digital partitions. These partitions will change to transparent surfaces, whiteboards, and opaque surfaces. By the help of these partitions, user can create their own workplace inside the studio. 

Also, brick and timber was local material in India and brick also cheaper than the other materials like concrete or steel so that I use brick masonry walls and timber beams as a structural system.

I used a down-draft evaporative cool tower system as a windcatcher. This system is more suitable in that climate also it is already used in Ahmedabad, Torrent Center. The main structure will be a vapor resistive brick wall. There will be wire mesh to prevent the entry of birds and insects, a perforated pipe with water spraying for evaporative cooling, and a perforated tray of charcoal to filter the air. Air will be distributed to the spaces via air ducts on the flooring and leave the space from the east facade. 

View from Riverfront towards Tagore Hall

These are the previous phases and pre-jury submissions of the project. From the beginning, I have series of walls that create wind corridors. In the 1PJ, it was criticized as being so separated to become an academy and in the 2PJ, it was criticized about controlling the wind in the building.