New Horizon: A Participatory Design Process for Public Education in India

“Architecture done right has the power to transform lives.” – Bhavik Thakkar

Our Process: Participatory & Contextual Design: 

One of the biggest reasons to become an architect is to harness one’s ability to shape lives and transform society for the better. The best way to do so is through building a school. A school for the underserved, a school for first generation school goers, a school that inspires, a school that inspires the kids to aim for newer horizons. Our clients for this school project, were its users, the students and teachers. When the patron, Baroda Young Turks Round Table 201 (a non-profit and member organization of Round Table India) approached us, we were thrilled at the opportunity of serving the larger vision of Round Table India of Freedom Through Education. 

We employed a multi-pronged approach to design this new building:

1. Historical & Site Context 
2. Detailed Site Survey, Including the mapping of each tree and its foliage
3. Design Charrettes with Principals, Students, Teachers
4. Painting Competition for Students
5. Design Evolved through a Participatory Design Process
6. Structure and Services Integration through Collaborative Design Process
7. Design Charrettes with Landscape Consultant for Site Planning and Integration
8. Stakeholder design participation and feedback

The result? An architecture that gives flight to students’ aspirations and dreams; shaped by more than 35 mature trees surrounding the site. It seems as if the building took the space and form that nature for intended it to take. The first two floors of the building boasts 6 classrooms, including an amphitheatre style classroom, designed to improve visibility even from the last row of seating. Each classroom has unique flooring, informed by feedback received from students during design workshops, giving a unique character to each space. The second floor boasts spaces that heighten experientiality and volume with gravity defying vaulted and double vaulted roofs in the activity room and library, respectively. The science lab has a sense of meditative calm to it, with semicircular skylights flooding the walls with ambient light. 

Sculpting Volume & Light: 

The library space is imagined and built to invigorate an inspiring environment to encourage and inculcate the habit of reading in kids. Two sets of double half vaults overlap to create a horizontal slit window that washes the exposed concrete ceiling with a silvery sheen. Picturesque Vertical slit windows frame views of the trees towards the east and anthropometrically sized windows selectively let in the west sun, minimizing glare and heat gain. 

A cantilevered balance cantilever canopy welcomes the student into the building, which has triple heighted atrium at its heart. The atrium fills in the heart of the building with soft light filtered in through a dome shaped skylight. The atrium spaces doubles up as a temperature regulator of the building with provision to let out hot air through venturi effect, which ensures a constant inflow of fresh air into the building. This atrium is also gifted with a sand pit acting as the central pivot around which kids’ play revolves. 

Each classroom is filled with natural light and is facilitated by cross ventilation through design. Anthropometrically modulated openings create an array of view avenues for students. 

Sustainability: Passive Cooling & IGBC Gold Standard:

Keeping sustainability to the fore, New Horizon is designed to be certification ready to a IGBC Gold standard. Regionally sourced materials are used to enhance tactility and vividness of spaces. Metaphorical concepts in flooring create an enthralling experience as one traverses from space to space. Meticulously crafted exposed concrete slabs with cast in situ tapered grooves, create an expansive energy in every space. 

Our aim through New Horizon is to give a sense of renewed sense of zest and zeal to the kids by creating an environment that is no less than any private school. We hope that our effort shall inspire many more such endeavours, taking public education and public education facilities in India to newer heights.