INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT FACULTY HOUSING

The program put up a requirement of twenty four number 2000sq.ft. apartments with covered car parking for select IIM-B faculty members. This was to be developed as Phase 1, with adequate consideration for possible future expansion.

The site allocated within the sprawling campus connected two roads on either sides and sloped from east to west. Towards the north-east was the existing faculty housing while towards the south-west there was a children’s park with an open well at the western corner. The site derives character from a number of large rain trees towards the west and some tall vertical trees towards the north and south of the site.

The design brought forth a row housing scheme oriented in the north-south direction, on either sides of a pedestrianised linear plaza, approached through entrance courts that lie in the soft shade of the existing rain trees. The topography of the site was played up to it’s maximum advantage and the plaza, which acts as a vibrant community lung space, was planned in two levels. While the lower level doubled up as an emergency vehicle movement path that linked the two existing roads on either sides of the site, the upper level, towards the north, housed the car parking beneath it and gradually stepped down from east to west. Keeping in mind the natural slopes offered by the site, the surface run-off was directed to the existing well, and the rainwater from terraces and balconies were collected and re-used for non-potable purposes.

The units were designed as interlocking volumes stacked one above the other, with the entrance lobby and guest bedroom facing the plaza whereas the living and dining areas face a rear garden. A sub-urban house feel was conceptualized with contained personal spaces and an introspective nature, yet, with a connect to the outside. The lower residence steps down from the foyer to the living areas with a court that becomes a link inbetween, while the skylight above the staircase brings in ambient daylight and reflects it to the other areas. The upper unit steps up from the lobby level to the common areas with a central sky-lit court in the centre that acts as focal feature. The staggered volumes facilitate double height ceilings that allow a vertical transition of spaces – from common areas at the lower levels to private bedrooms that are tucked away on upper mezzanines. The spaces are articulated in terms of volumes and at every level they maintain a visual relation with the whole. The interior furnishing of the residences were left to the occupants to be furnished according to their taste.

Externally, the massing is expressed as an engaging composition of seemingly random white cubes with scooped out volumes that translate into balcony spaces and terraces.