A VATIKA G TWN
DESIGN BRIEF
The design required for 5-6 classrooms with capacity of 30 children meant for children age group of 2½-5 year with activity room, Dance & Music room, and Medical room. The reception room should have waiting for around 12-15 people with Administration & Principal room near it. The requirement was to have classrooms well lit up with nature & natural light.
Further outer areas to be landscaped & designed for out door activities like swimming pool, slides, skating, assembly space & sand pit. The School was to be centrally air-conditioned. The building to have a character of kinder garden school with use of pastel shades (Client had mentioned the colours used in Disneyland).
DESIGN PROCESS
The prior emphasis was kept on the functional requirement and the character (elevation) of the building. The building two storied was placed at middle of the site where all rooms should have natural ventilation. The plan kept as simple as possible & only had a corridor connecting all the spaces which over looked the central courtyard. An environment to be created inside which transforms into children’s space, one with which they can identify with, the areas & space they can easily remember and move around. The building plan worked on a hexagonal shape enclosing an open courtyard acts as a secured space for children’s to play.
The building longer side facing the main G.T Karnal road has an entrance from front but the main entrance to be used by children’s was kept from side road (Side road has less traffic & Children’s movement can be monitored properly).The two entrances are kept at side, one lead to the reception area with the administration & principal room and the other to be used by children’s which opens on to the staircase well leads them to basement as well as first floor.
The swimming pool is kept at the comer in the rear side of the plot. Big glass windows gave children’s to have a good view of open areas.
The building elevation was intended to be derived using basic forms of circles, triangles and square. Further it had to differ from castle shaped or fairly tale exterior. It had to be modern and raw in its outlook.
The use of colours & forms used in exterior was reflected in the interiors too. The foremost attempt in execution of the building or selection of materials or colours was not to lose the character of the building which it was meant for (an apprehension from client that it should not look like a mall). The landscape was also an important aspect of design with transitional between two spaces achieved by different materials & their colours.