Cladding Trends
ASHLESHA KALE
Principal Architect and Director, Ingrain Architects & Urban Designers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: View of the hospital from across the road
Gorakhpur demands passive cooling for buildings to have comforting indoor environments. Hence, the hospital has a perforated façade that allows good air circulation through organized façade openings. The façade also provides necessary shading by creating a patterned entry for light. The access to fresh air and diffused sunlight through the perforated screen is considered to be helpful in the healing process. For a developing city such as Gorakhpur, the building design is exemplary for budget planning and execution. The employment of local workers and craftsmanship contributed to the design motto of achieving simplicity with modernity. The modern perforated façade has been designed in square geometry. The square openings on the façade are placed in varying sizes to create an interesting pattern of design. The
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WFM | MARCH - APRIL 2022
arrangement of the openings is such that it creates an illusion of more floors than there exist in reality. This provides an element of surprise making the building an architectural attraction of the city. The façade panels are prefabricated micro stainless steel jali and aluminum composite panels with MS framing. The architecture of the hospital building significantly contributes to its exclusiveness. This unique façade design shuns the traditional notion that hospital buildings are designed with monotony. Instead, planning such façades help enhance the functioning of the hospital by contributing to energy efficiency and optimization. This hospital design is a milestone project for the city of Gorakhpur which can encourage future buildings in the area to adopt contextual designing with a modern expression.
Ashlesha Kale is the Principal Architect and Director at Ingrain Architects & Urban Designers. Ingrain is an architecture and urban design firm based out of Mumbai led by Ashlesha Kale, Ashwini Bhonsale, Abhay Bhonsale and Kiran Bhonsale. Kiran and Abhay have been working on projects of varying scales based on sustainable low carbon developmental models. They have more than two decades of experience, working on various types of projects such as mass housing, master planning for integrated townships, ITES and IT SEZs, amusement and hospitality destinations, mixed-use redevelopments, public and academic institutions, retail developments and corporate buildings and more. Ashlesha is an architect and urban designer who has been working on a large number of urban rejuvenation and tourismrelated projects across India.
