SANGATH - The Architect's Office in Ahmedabad, India

 

Sangath is an attempt to reinterpret the rich architectural traditions of India and find their resolution in contemporary architecture, where a perennial search for Indian ethos and contextual idiom finds its answers. Gradual unfolding of spaces through shifting axis, inbuilt thresholds and sense of layering are key attributes of space organisation.

The non axial route of movement makes it exploratory with built in surprises where every change to alignment makes one pause, ponder and reorient oneself. This makes it interactive with involvement to onlooker and an instantaneous rapport is established between him and the subject.

From arrival, the immediate space is actually approached last with a total three hundred and sixty degree movement loop. Here each turn, each pause, each node unfolds newer nuances for experiential enrichment and visual impact.

          

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INTRODUCTION:

• SANGATH means “moving together through participation.”
• It is an architect  office
• Location:   Thaltej Road, Ahmedabad 380054
• Client:    Balkrishna Doshi
• Period of construction:  1979-1981
• Project Engineer:  B.S. Jethwa,   Y. Patel
• Site area:   2346 m2
• Total Built-up Area:    585 m2
• Project Cost:    Rs. 0.6 Million ( 1981 )

Passive Design:

• Not require mechanical heating and Cooling
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions from heating, cooling, mechanical ventilation and lighting
• Take advantage of natural energy flow
• Maintain the thermal comfort

Design concept And Features:

• Design concerns of climate ( temperature or humidity or sunlight).
• Extensive use of vaults
• Main studio partly bellow the ground (sunken)
• Very less use of mechanical instrument
• Special materials are used resulting in a low cost building costing it
• Lot of vegetation & water bodies
• Continuity of Spaces
• Use of lot of diffused sunlight
• Complete passive design
• Grassy steps which Doshi uses as informal Amphitheatre

CONSTRUCTION OF VAULT

• 3.5 cm thick  RCC
• 8 cm ceramic fuses
• 3.5 cm thick RCC
• 6 cm thick water proofing
• 1 cm thick broken China mosaic finish
• Ceramics are temperature resistant.
• Broken China mosaic is insulative and reflective surface.
• Broken China mosaic  gives a very good textures.
• Water cascades from fountain into series of Channels
• Glass bricks
• Diffused light in the drafting studio
• Whole area is covered with vegetation
• Terracotta pots and sculpture lying in the compound

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