ARCHITECTURE INTERIORS DESIGN
07
JULY 2015
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Focus: India & Singapore • M&O Americas • Guardian Art Centre, Beijing • Gammel Hellerup High School, Denmark
TAKING SHELTER Vipp, well known for its classic homeware accessories, has crafted a shelter which defies traditional stereotypes and pushes its design aesthetics further than they have gone before
+ Breaking boundaries in
HK$48 US$18 €15
F&B interior concepts
JULY 2015
FOCUS: INDIA & SINGAPORE 53 Silver Oaks • Gurgaon, India
MORE THAN JUST SKIN-DEEP Text: Suzanne Miao Photography: © Jeetin Sharma | Courtesy of Architecture Discipline
Under a façade of shiny glass buildings and modernity, Gurgaon suffers from poor urban planning and regressive construction systems. Determined to buck this trend, New Delhi-based multidisciplinary design firm Architecture Discipline has designed a corporate guest house to a most exacting standard
64 | perspective
FOCUS: INDIA & SINGAPORE 53 Silver Oaks • Gurgaon, India
Gurgaon is often cited as a shining example of India’s growth story. Replete with tall glass skyscrapers, wide roads and millionaire-worthy housing estates, it has manifested almost overnight, with vast swathes of the city almost impossible to differentiate from one another. Most of this modernity, however, is just a façade, with poor urban planning and regressive construction systems creating deeply unsustainable living patterns. The glass façades hide ordinary concrete framed structures, often with services designed as an afterthought, negating most of the benefits to be reaped from a frame/skin system of construction. Lying within this context is the rectilinear project site and a complex brief of requirements which faced New Delhibased multidisciplinary design firm Architecture Discipline. The client wished to accommodate a large public space and guest rooms on a site that mandated that no windows could overlook either of the long sides. It was decided to create the main public areas below ground level and thus, the principal entrance leads to a generous subterranean space. The glass walls of this light-filled space are set in, detached from the peripheral retaining walls, eliminating the sense of being underground by creating deep horizontal views. On the upper floors, an efficient combination of suites and rooms are organised around a central vertical movement core, emphasised by the stark geometry of the staircase. For centuries, architecture in the Indian subcontinent has battled the sun, the dust and the heat. The screen (jaali), while a functional architectural device, has more often been reduced to a mostly decorative element in the contemporary scenario. Here, however, it is used to keep out the glare of the sun, moderate interior temperatures and provide a uniform subtle light quality in interior spaces. Externally, the objective was to wrap the structure in a thin, light, perforated screen so that the structure itself could be lighter and free from supporting the weight of unnecessarily heavy interior and exterior partitions. The mesh thus creates a uniform envelope around the building, while ensuring privacy from the road — this porosity and transparency has been one of the recurring themes of architectural investigation at Architecture Discipline, evolving constantly through many of its projects. By limiting the use of concrete to the basement retaining walls and roof slabs, the building maximises the use of recyclable materials, with nearly all of the walls made of double-insulated glass units and also acting as soundproofing. The steel frame itself was designed for maximum lightness, with bracing provided by diagonal members to allow maximum flexibility and enabling easy maintenance as it is finished with aircraft grade non-VOC paint. The joists that hold up the deck slabs are visible within the guest rooms; the main load-bearing columns are expressed through the public spaces as slender elements.
Clockwise from top left Glowing like a lantern after dark, the building’s frit printed layers of glass and steel braces can be clearly seen in the east elevation • The site mandated that no windows could overlook either of the long sides, creating a design challenge for Architecture Discipline • A modern mesh jaali keeps out the glare of the sun, moderates interior temperatures and provide a uniform subtle light quality in interior spaces • Inside, furniture and surfaces are constructed with durable, long-wearing materials and fabrics to ensure the minimal need for upkeep or replacement perspective | 65
FOCUS: INDIA & SINGAPORE 53 Silver Oaks • Gurgaon, India
Locally sourced materials have been used throughout the building. Eschewing the popular Italian marbles that adorn bourgeois Indian homes, a deeply veined Indian marble was deployed in an asymmetrical pattern to complement the cool tones of the interior glass partitions. Balancing this is the staircase, enveloped in wood and acting as the dissonant piece in the composition. Since the building would eventually be used as a transitional space for most guests, it was imperative to design the services to take decades of wear and tear without needing costly maintenance or routine supervision. Plumbing, lighting and air conditioning were conceptualised within the framework of the building at an early stage, including systems like a pressurised water supply, solar hot water generators with recycling pumps, rainwater harvesting and so on. As Gurgaon is prone to long power cuts, the use of split power generators aids in the reduction of running costs. Every mundane decision was re-examined, whether it was the room lighting, where single dimmable fixtures were chosen for efficiency, user customisation or the common areas, and backlit architectural fabrics are used for dramatic effect. The resultant aesthetic is one of elegant simplicity. At night, the varying pattern of the retractable blinds animates the ordered elements, while during the day, the shadows of the surrounding trees play out on the façade, reflecting their movement. A single material used in the façade, not in the manner of the local context, but one that fully exploits the abilities of composite glass to act as a sustainable peripheral skin.
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Clockwise from top left The main public areas are situated below ground level, with the principal entrance leading to a generous subterranean space • The warmth of the wastewood-clad staircase contrasts with the coolness of the glass and marble of the interiors • Skylights and atriums bring light directly in through the mesh façade and bounce it off translucent and reflective surfaces • Structural systems have been, for the most part, left exposed, in contrast to the more common practice wherein most internal surfaces are concealed by cladding or plaster 66 | perspective