ELTIS - Symbiosis

Pune, India

Photo © Ariel Huber

Architects: _OPOLIS

Year: 2006

The highlight of this project is the complex handling of program and translating that into a meaningful architecture. The program had a Language School and Girls Hostel combined into a small plot of 20,000 sft. The project has two distinct functional needs, yet is able to accommodate each with ease on a very tight urban plot. To create the sense of an “urban campus” within a tight urban situation was the real challenge and to create a sense of “belonging to the ground” for the hostels even though they are located above a institute is the strength of the project. The project explores the idea of creating a campus like feel in a tight urban plot thru the use of public atrium/ podium spaces. These are reflected in the institute part as covered spaces while the hostel section makes use of open terraces to re-create the ground plane at an elevated level. The project has abstracted the program into the generative units of the 3 person shared hostel room and the 30 seater classroom. The program is layered in section with the hostel rooms sitting on top while the classrooms are below. A Service Floor separates the two programs. The project has successfully separated the two circulations of the two diverse programs to make both of them work well within one building.