Vishranthi Office
The Vishranthi office is a multi-tenanted office building, with the landowner’s residence on the top floor. Contrary to the prevailing aspiration of steel and glass office buildings, we decided to design a well-shaded and energy-efficient building using brick. The building envelope was envisaged in a manner that energy consumption would be brought down, even if the offices used air-conditioning.
Location
Size
Chennai
1800 Sq.m
2013
Publications : Architizer , Archdaily , Buildo Tech , Design Boom Architecture
Awards & Nominations : Nominated in WAF 2013
Rather than going with large horizontal glazed openings, the strategy was to go with vertical slit windows distributed across the facade to increase the potential of natural light within the office. The seemingly random windows also give ample opportunity for natural ventilation in the office spaces. The whole envelope was divided into 600 mm wide panels of aluminium framed brick jalli panels, interspersed with 600 mm wide floor-to-ceiling windows.
The brick panels were designed as a garden-wall bond jaali using 50mm x 300mm terracotta bricks. The 50mm high brick was chosen because the dimensions prevent roosting of birds. The panel was constructed with careful dimensional accuracy that resulted in zero wastage of bricks. The brick panel façade is set away from the main wall by 100mm giving a through ventilated cavity that further reduces the heat build-up on the external wall.
