Council of Architecture : Centre of Excellence, Bengaluru

The crucial part of any institutional buildings are its spaces where the programmes unfold, the spaces where people meet, greet, eat and interact. These public spaces are usually at the courts, the green pockets or the building edges and are filled with continues activities and dynamic events. Recognising the importance of these activities and the potential of the design programme to gather people the idea was to maximise these activity spaces as much as possible. Multiplying the courtyard spaces, scooping the generic rectilinear building mass to create more activity pockets are some of the design strategies used. Adding on to the idea of these spaces, it was also a conscious decision to make the building overlook these active public areas. Windows were considered as the design tool for the facade details as well as a medium to connect. Windows also provide us with the moving sense of imagination, this sense of imagination allows us to immerse ourselves in a poetic experience. In contrast, understanding window behaviourology would be akin to directing our attention to and understanding how windows are positioned in relation to things like how light and wind pass through windows, the heat that accumulates there, the people that are drawn there to gaze upon the outside, the people walking along the courts, corridor, the vegetation in the garden and so on.