Cardinal Kovilumbakkum
Project Name
: Cardinal Kovilambakkam
Location
: Kovilambakkam, Chennai.
Site Area
: 4 Acres
Total Built-up Area
: 6,00,000 Sft.
Office Floor Plate
: 30,000Sft(Each)
Cardinal Energy and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. A subsidiary of Swan Energy, has acquired land and is working on real estate projects in Banglore, Chennai and Hyderabad. Cardinal Energy is currently engaged in developing real estate projects in prime locations of Mumbai. FHD was involved in the Master Planning, Infrastructure, Landscape design for an area of 4 acres along with Architecture, Structural and MEP design for a total built up area of 6,00,000 Sqft. The Proposal for exterior design of a partially built IT building located in Kovilambakkam, Chennai with existing car parking floors, the extent of the structure had to be respected to arrive at an exterior, form that meets the vision of a high performing corporate space. The building as per the initial design consists of 12 office floors with a central atrium space and service zone. Two seperate facade designs were developed to be deliberated with the client . In both the options the buildings were treated as twin tower ensemble connected by a common spillover zone. The formal language of the buildings creates an iconic geometry with the green atrium and bridges that connect the two parts of the Office. Accentuated by rhombus shaped panels, these inclined glass facade give a crystal sort of effect to the built form. Central space between the 2 office volumes is been negotiated with crossing bridges that will offer a terrace garden as a spillover for office staff and emphasize the entry as well.
QUEST TO ELATE How can we reprogram a building under construction to a different use with minimal structural implications and maximum comfort for the new user group? Chennai with its focus on becoming an Information technology hub of South India has opened up a series of IT parks in the past decade. Some early developments have become extra ordinary success stories, while later ones have struggled with occupancy rates and had to rethink their business model. The quest was to deliver an architectural solution to re-adapt a building that was caught in this transition, from an IT park to a more sustainable commercial space that can cater to larger client base and corporates. The reworked program and flexible design allowed for opening up the opportunity of catering to large scale Multi nationals as the building now could offer an experience and facilities which were to international standards.
CHALLENGE The primary challenge was to adapt the structure that was already in place (2 basements and 3 office floors) as the base to build upon. Can architecture convey the message that it has changed its function mid way?
What memories does architecture carry and how does it react to re appropriation.
The LENS Framework LOCALISATION Chennai being a hot and humid environment suffers from the lack of o.. IT parks have a large group of young professionals
EMPATHY The atrium although an interesting feature, would have served more as an arrival experience without much of a functional impact. Hence the move to convert the space as an outdoor green link would create an interesting spill over space for users and inject a much needed social space into the design.
NATURAL CONNECTION The urge to push the various projects in the direction of creating experiences closer to nature resulted in changing the functionality of an enclosed atrium into a green connection between the two masses that were created by breaking the singular form.
SIMPLICITY The form was dissolved into
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