Edition by Edifice

OCTOBER 2021

This Edi-Tion demonstrates our approach towards the design of facades. At Edifice Consultants. it is important strike a balance between the client’s wishes and one’s own creative vision and the façade must reflect this delicate equilibrium. In two of our projects – MVML, Pune and JSW, Vasind, the approach was to correspond to the configuration of the building, local climatic conditions, and the expected usage patterns to ensure that post-construction energy requirements are minimised. We believe that efficient building design should correspond to solar radiation typical to an area and optimize daylighting and heat gain to the built environment.

Context-Sensitive Façade Design
Corporate Office — Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturers Ltd, Pune

The phase-I of Corporate Office for Mahindra's AFS division at Chakan, Pune is conceptualized as a ‘living building’, with a dynamic facade. It is strategically designed to be climate responsive; the façade is an expanse of continuous glazing strips with a DGU system consisting of different sun-shading settings based on incident glare.

The West facade is divided into two parts: office spaces covered with vertical louvers that can be manually operated to block the western sun, and courtyards covered with pergolas to make the building porous and breathable. The southern facade explores partial sun-shading via two horizontal sunshades, while allowing ingress of diffused daylight within the workspaces. The façade facing north has been kept uninterrupted to allow the northern sun to penetrate the building. The distinctive strategy for each façade helps reduce solar heat gain by a significant level, thus lowering the electric load.

Brand Vision with Vernacular Material
JSW, Vasind

JSW’s Vasind works is one of the largest producers and exporters of processed steel, the plant is spread over 110 acres at Vasind.

The built form vocabulary is articulated in local stone and exposed concrete, with glazing at suitable areas forming a unifying base of the complex. The distinctly crafted linear bars of the workspaces and shared facilities sit above this unifying base. Workspaces largely in an insulated glazed cover, overlook views and are well shaded by deep overhangs and localized external screens proposed in Corten steel. Opaque faces are dressed in local granite, render unique identity to the spaces.

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