Akshar Arbol International
Located off the East coast road at Injambakkam, Akshar Arbol, a school based on the International Baccalaureate curriculum, has been designed as a set of interactive learning spaces that connect the different age groups of children in a naturally lit and ventilated building envelope. One of the primary design directions has been to make the building climate-friendly and sustainable.
Location
Size
Chennai
3885 Sq.m
2017
Publications : Archadaily
Situated in a hot and humid region barely a kilometre from the sea, the design intent was to use the ambient wind flow to ventilate the building. The abundantly available natural light illuminates the school as it is a purely 'day' building. While bringing in light, it is also important to keep out the glare and heat. Hence the building has been designed with shading strategies.
The school, located on a 3-acre site, is a three-storeyed building, designed in a modular fashion that allows for a phased development. The building has been designed as a concrete framed structure with exposed concrete slabs and the entire building is clad by a skin wall of cement-stabilised earth blocks (CSEB). These blocks are good thermal insulators and wrap around the building envelope thus shading it from the sun and considerably reducing heat gain. In order to shade the windows from excessive glare, screen jallis made out of the CSE blocks have been designed. Sliding glass partitions give a continuous visual connection and allow the spaces to expand and merge into each other when required. The lower level of the building is for the pre-primary children where the classrooms open out into landscaped courts.
A winding landscaped ramp has been envisioned to connect the different building blocks with tree courts rising with the ramp as one walks up. The tree courts act as gallery space viewing out into the playground. Cave-like spaces and openings are carved out of the areas below the ramp, adding a new dimension to the children's play areas that also provide quiet nooks for study.