With its out-of-the-box designs and impressive use of materials, forms and proportions, Archohm holds a name in the Indian architectural industry. After intuitive discussions and brainstorming sessions, the team handles a large variety of projects varying in size, scale, and typologies. Founded and lead by Ar. Sourabh Gupta, the firm has always undergone evolution to other branches nationally and internationally. From large urban planning projects to tiny sign board designs, Archohm represents the best in every corner of making designs better and adaptable. From multinational campuses to regional farmers’ quarters, the concepts of this firm based in Noida has also shown its excellence in journalism, publishing newsletters, bespoke furniture and product design. The design educative project named as the design village is another achievement of the team, promoting indigenous designs and talented designers.
1. Museum Of Socialism
Blending with the existing Ram Manohar Lohia Park, the museum of socialism or Jayaprakash Narayan Interpretation Center is a unique sustainable design with the greenery continuing onto the structure. With sprouts and trees emerging out of the design, it represents the urban fabric of Lucknow with its huge mass and the arch carved out of it. The stepped platform pointing to a pavilion that overlooks the park enhances the context to a next level. The museum initiates a reflection of thoughts and provides an experiential journey as you walk down the museum spaces.
2. Studio Archohm
Surrounded by the Jama mosque, industrial zones and a slum development on the sides, The C-28C is the official headquarters of the architecture firm. Rightly symbolizing its ‘mad and fun’ concept, the steel intimidating entrance, the atrium, the connecting bridges, and the mix of materials is used in its best possible manner. Dividing the structure into five units of expertise, these are characterised by five different materials and subjected to sustainable measure and climatic influences.
3. Dilli Haat
It all began with the DTTDC (Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation) inviting entries for another Dilli Haat when two amazing prototypes already existed in the state. Th theme of making hearts beat to rhythms and bring a conjunction of the dwellers in the structure with the artists and musicians ala round proves to be an amazing platform for the new and proved the expertise of the firm. With its different yet exotic structural brilliance is just a notch above the public government aided projects them.
4. Avadh Shilpgram
With an elliptical layout for unrestricted circulation of visitors that narrows down towards the end similar to the street markets of Lucknow, the Avadh Shilpgram was yet another effortless organic creation of the team. With a modern interpretation of the traditional elements like jaalis and arches as in Imambaras and Roomi Darwaza, it stays tribute to the heritage of the place. The interiors are designed with steel Jali pattern sin red sandstone and motifs inspired from the local Chikankari style.
5. Cancer Hospital Lucknow
The design aimed at making the hospital less threatening to patients and opens it out to the nature promoting healing and wellness of physical and mental health. Being the anchor of the green corridor of Lucknow, this exemplary design has set a model for the care and treatment typology of buildings. It is worth all the praise with its circulatory underground tunnel and public atriums overlooking the green parks ahead with avant-garde inspirations.
6. Taj Ganj Agra
This effort to stitch together the apparently discovered layers around the Taj Mahal deserves the highest applause. The culmination of the commercial, institutional, religious, markets and slums to effectively present a better urban strategy has come out beautifully.
The visual texture is altered with insertion of pedestrian side-walks and transparent extra layers that exist as transition zones. With locally found materials, perforated screens and united expression of street furniture makes the context of the great monument less hectic and spread love as it was meant to.
7. The Design Village Noida
The design educative campus holds its new campus inside a rejuvenated and adaptively reused catechu factory in the neighbourhood. Injecting the contemporary features into this almost-ruined structure on the verge of decay, this structure was ready to welcome its students just within a span of two months. This probably has been the most impressive work of the firm succeeding in converting an abandoned trash into an institution that imparts creativity and inspiration.
8. Vadodara Bharuch Toll Plaza
Making a breakthrough in the architecture and design of toll plazas in the transportation industry, this one at Vadodara runs all day around the clock. With impressive canopies and underground tunnels connecting platforms and islands, making it contemporary in design catering to its form and function.
9. Sanskriti School Lucknow
As per the team, the design was to convey the importance of social connections and responsibilities along with academics. The school has a beautiful connection between public and private places with nicely defined hierarchy. The building is sliced in the middle to separate it for the academics and co-curricular activities with connecting minimalistic bridges kept open to the sky. The activity block ends in a flight of steps apt for an amphitheatre setup. The division space turns into the recreational space for the students beneath the bridges, though not designated intentionally.
10. Volume Villa Lucknow
This massive residence stands unique and magnificent in one of the city’s busiest residence quarters. With concrete and wood pleasing the by passers with simplicity and glass in the interiors depicting the royalty of the household, the Volume Villa takes residence designs to another level.
The house protects privacy as demanded by the client by placing the services onto the front elevation in an unapologetic manner.
11. Irsdc Office
Located in New Delhi, the design of the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation office complements the function it uphold and the work type it undertakes. The railway track silhouettes and the info graphic wall inspired from the railways talk the work being done. Naming different rooms and cabins with names of railway stations and implementing design features complimenting the same, this office keeps the industrial theme from head to toe.
12. National Institute Of Faith And Leadership
This institute is an attempt in bringing nationalist contemporary views in a blend with Islamic traditional virtues. An urge to think and decode from nothing was the major design challenge that was propagated through bold details and expressions. The project aims to transform myths that Islamic religion is subjected to through valid findings and achieve a sense of spirituality and knowledge through light and darkness. The star perforations on concrete slab roofs portray the novelty of the concept and the cuts in the large stone mass lets in the light of enlightenment.
13. India Pavilion France
Built along with Boisbuchet Atelier in France, the Indian pavilion combines three elements that represent the nation’s built history; space, materials and light. The belief of imbibing the outer view of the nature keeps the souls alive and afresh lead to this open structure. The design goes beyond the brief that describes it as a shelter as an aftermath of a disaster, taking it over a longer future. Combining the older design values, adding red brick material to emphasize history and the spiral layout as per the site of Boisbuchet, this design is acclaimed as one of the best international projects of the Archohm team.
14. Gupta House
The residence of the principal architect of the firm is simple, compact, and yet comfortable beyond senses. It is designed to envision growth in every member with spaces that indulge into the relations as just another member of the house. It helps to make memories that remain in the walls and ceilings, and everything reminds of some incident, where nothing is accidentally placed. The house is said to pertain silence when its filled with humans and talk when its empty. Dodged into the nature, this project is an ideal model for the contemporary use of local materials in the simplest of forms.
15. Kannauj Hospital
The hospital is based on the concept of light as a symbol of purity, sterility and accomplishment. This is applied through a series of courtyards letting in ample sunlight, individual rooms with large fenestrations, and optimum views from the rooms to speed up the process of healing. Onto a new concept of ‘fresh’ and ‘ailment flies away’, this project puts up an example in designing care institutes and health care buildings.
Image sources:
All Images ©Archohm (www.archohm.com)