A heavily linear building, this commercial space in India designed by Sanjay Puri Architects puts to test the adage ‘less is more’.
Photos by Abhishek Shah
A rectilinear composition creating offices opening into landscaped terraces along an arterial city road, Stellar is a commercial building with retail spaces at the 3 lower levels and offices at the upper 4 levels.
This 110-meter long building is fragmented at the upper floors with north-facing terraces and is punctuated by a large 2 level angular office space on the north-west corner.
Designed by Sanjay Puri and his team, the space is in conformation with a very specific brief, retail spaces occupy the lower levels along the extensive road frontage. Small offices constitute the upper levels with 30% of the offices opening into landscaped terraces.
Sanjay Puri, alumni of Mayo College, Ajmer and St.Xaviers College, Mumbai graduated from the Academy of Architecture, Mumbai in 1988 and is the principal architect of the firm Sanjay Puri Architects.
With a young team of over 72 architects, the firm has a diverse portfolio of projects including townships, residential developments, software parks, hotels, retail malls, schools, and smaller individual projects.
The owner of the development wanted a clearly discernible office space of 500 sq meters. Angular folded planes create this office, set back from the road junction at the north-west corner, punctuating the rectilinear composition of the rest of the building.
Created with rust-red colored solid aluminium sheets this angular office volume is nestled within an open north-oriented terrace.
This office space is deliberately designed to contrast with the rest of the building creating an interesting juxtaposition of color, volume & geometry in addition to creating an individual identity based upon the brief.
The simple rectilinear geometry with muted color tones and the complex angular geometry awash with color contrast to create a unique composition.
Large openings towards the northern side, smaller recessed windows on the southern side, reduce heat gain in response to the high temperatures of the location in Ahmedabad city in India. Temperatures in this city are in excess of 35°C for 8 months annually.
All the terraces are connected to a rainwater harvesting tank & all water is recycled and reused.
Solar panels at the terrace harness the abundant solar energy available. This office and retail space building is contextual to the site’s location, climate and the client’s brief, amalgamating them cohesively.
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