India has emerged as the destination of choice for all major organizations across the globe. It thus becomes pertinent for these relatively new players in the Indian market to be able to generate an identity for themselves which is in keeping with their global image. More often than not, this results in mindless replication of built forms and materials which may have been better suited for other climatic conditions.

There is a fine balance required, to be able to achieve the desired image and a building that would respond well to its environs, culturally and environmentally given the imposed constraints of the local context, building techniques and the desired performance level from a custom designed structure. The sun although revered in India on a spiritual level, is one factor that most building design responds the least well to. So in effect, these buildings are an enormous drain on the already depleting natural resources by way of their energy consumption.

 

The client brief called for a contemporary iconic building which would represent the global eminence of Ernst and Young. The start point for the generation of the form was a software routine developed in-house which would give an optimized form that would be self-shading for select hours in a day for a specific latitude and longitude. The resultant form was then rationalized to achieve elliptical floor plates, where the slimmer edges are in an east west orientation and the longer faces are oriented in the north south direction. The floor plates extend out toward the South and West as we go up, so as to shade the floor directly below from direct harsh South western rays to minimize heat gain. Subsequently, not only is the heat factor is cut down tremendously, but also the indirect sun creates ideal reflected lighting conditions throughout the working hours of the day to completely eliminate the need for artificial lighting and hence cut down energy consumption tremendously. The resultant form of the building helps to generate an iconic image and identity and helps define a new approach to corporate office design.

 

The building is composed of two major components, the building itself and an atrium on one side. The building design is such that the 7 levels of office space have plug-in workstations, where collaborative working is encouraged. A preliminary analysis of the work methodology revealed that a large percentage of the employees are transient and do not require dedicated workstations. The idea is carried through and the elliptical floor-plates are flexible and reconfigurable to allow for a variety of workgroups and spaces depending on the variable needs of a department. The atrium is a grand public space which houses the entrance lobby, training room, informal meeting café and a series of meeting suites for client meetings keeping in mind the security and controlled access to work areas. The landscape around the building flows into the atrium to moderate the environment within.

 

Structurally, the intent has always been to be as light on the earth as possible. In order to support a building that grows out from one side as we move vertically up, and an atrium that grows in height as we move horizontally, a state of the art, lightweight structural system has been devised for construction. Slanting Cross bracing columns which also support the glass have been used cohesively with the building concept and form. The building envelope consist of two types of interlocking triangular units: top hung units and propped units, which are supported along the bottom edge. At the three sides of each panel, movements have to be allowed while air- and water tightness are provided.