access the levels but also allow children & teachers to pause, sit & synergize in an informal manner. The playful design & the colour treatment emphasized the informality of the space. The fact that a staircase is free of FSI in Mumbai, helped generate the additional space required for 5 divisions per standard to make the financial model viable. Strategically widened corridors created pauses that further encouraged unplanned interaction. For an education building the minimum clear floor height as per the regulations was 3.6mts. This allowed for providing for 3 toilets between two floors and freeing some more floor space. The design was based on the principles of passive climate control to optimize the use of natural light & ventilation by scientifically capturing and guiding wind through corridors and natural sunlight through the light shelves. The light shelves were an innovation that took advantage of the building bye laws that permitted only 750mm deep horizontal projections free of FSI to reflect glare free sunlight deep into the classroom and provide a cost-effective visual feature on the façade
Figure 9.16. Passive climate control Source: https://www.archdaily.com/785026/the-green-acres-academy-tushar-desai-assosiates
Exposed concrete, with its allusions to timelessness, ruggedness, neutrality and honesty of expression became the clear choice as backdrop. Silver anodized aluminium windows & 199
