The school sits in a neighbourhood with constant construction activity and a godown is in its immediate vicinity.
Creating a learning space for a young age group on such a site required that the school be an enclosed and protective space. The site factor played a key role in the design, along with the Reggio-Emilia education approach itself, on which the school is based.
Exploratory learning is encouraged through a permeable design of the interiors - walls of varying heights enclosing curvilinear classrooms and common spaces under a skylight-dotted roof. The roof is supported on eight columns, each in the form of a branching tree. This tree form, while being a structural element, allows the roof to be perceived from a height that children can relate to. It is also a reinterpretation of learning under a tree, a common sight in rural parts of the country.
'Detailing the Structure' © Biome Environmental Solutions
© Vivek Muthuramalingam/Biome Environmental Solutions
Unlike the longstanding notion of everlasting buildings, it is not uncommon to see built spaces being renovated or redone entirely to keep pace with people's changing needs. The permanence of a building may no longer be a prerequisite in its design. This being accepted, it is necessary to allow material recovery and recycling, or reconstruct the same building elsewhere – anything but create debris that will occupy landfills.
- Contractors: Muralidhar Reddy, Prasanna Kumar
- Consultants: Mesha Structural Consultants
- Text: Soujanya Krishnaprasad