Sanjay Puri Architects has designed a new building for the Prestige University in Indore, a stepped massing with green terraces that blends with the landscape. Currently under construction within the 32-acre university campus, the project echoes traditional Indian architecture through its use of red brick and contextual adaptation to the local climate. The morphology creates an outdoor amphitheatre for students and faculty, while the interweaving of indoor and outdoor spaces is meant to foster engagement and social interaction.
With a volume that steps up from North to South, punctured by landscaped courtyards introducing indirect sunlight to the heart of the built mass, the project makes use of traditional knowledge to create an energy-efficient structure with minimal gestures in a place where temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius for eight months a year. Comprising administration offices, seminar halls, an auditorium, a library and a cafeteria, the new university building fosters various spatial experiences mediated by a continuous diagonal indoor street and the series of interior courtyards. That act as “the spillover area for recreational activities”. The red brick screens enveloping the project are also a climate adaptation meant to reduce heat gain.
The Mumbai-based practice is known for its contextual designs and emphasis on low-tech sustainable solutions, as well as its pursuit of an architecture that fosters social interaction. The firm’s most notable projects include The Street Housing project, The Rajasthan School, or The Crescent office building.
