Collector Office is an administrative headquarters of the district. It is perceived as the “Power House” and hence it needs to be designed as a “Monumental Building”.
Project Name: Collector Office
Architect: Sunil Patil & Associates
Status: Built
Client: PWD, Maharashtra, India.
Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Interior Designer: Sunil Patil & Associates
Landscape Designers: Sunil Patil & Associates
Structural Consultants: Precision Precast Solution Pvt. Ltd.
MEP Consultant: S.N Joshi Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
Civil Contractors: Shubham Civil Projects
Photo Credits: Square One.
Commencement Date: 2013
Completion Date: October 2017
Site Area: 23900 Sq.m
Built Up Area: 19797.83 Sq.m
Cost: 67.30 Cr
Project Team: Architect. Sunil Patil, Architect. Anuja Pandit, Er. Sanjay Patil
Project Brief:
Collector Office is designed on the existing site, which was meant to replace the cluster of the number of small and old structures which were found functionally inefficient to cope up with the growing occupancy and requirement of the building.
In Collector Office, visitors come from all over the district and sometimes they need to spend the entire day in the campus. Therefore, as much as it’s an office building, it needs to have efficient public spaces, and to combine both was the major challenge while designing the Collector office.
Design Concept:
After the neoclassical era, in the first half of the 20th century, the modern Architecture emerged with the use of new construction technologies like glass, steel and reinforced concrete. There was a paradigm shift from ornamentation to the functionality of the building and the climate became an important factor in designing the building envelopes.
India having a tropical climate, the concrete jalis and fins were the major components of building envelope and facades. Most of the public and institutional buildings built in India during the late 20th century are the perfect examples of tropical architecture.
By the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, in the pursuit of chasing the western trends, architecture started getting contaminated with styles irrespective of the function and the climate.
This gave birth to glass buildings in India, completely defeating the climate-responsive architecture and proving them a menace to the sustainability in Architecture. This has resulted into high consumption of energy, leaving a high impact on the environment resulting into global warming.
Today, glass buildings are considered as modern and iconic structures. We need to change this mindset and break this popular myth. This design is an attempt to break this myth and reinstate the climate-responsive architecture which is apt for the tropical climate of India.
Planning:
Collector Office, Pune designed on the existing site, was meant to replace the cluster of numbers of small and old structures, which were found functionally inefficient to cope up with the growing occupancy and requirement of the building.
The site contained some old stone structures and 197 fully grown trees. The new collector’s office is designed incorporating the stone and some of the architectural features from the old structures. The main stress was given on preserving the existing old trees and the flora-fauna without depleting the established Eco-system while constructing this new 19,797sq.m of structure.
Adhering to the site conditions, the design started with the evolution of three masses – Office wing A & B, and a parking building set apart from each other to create a semi-open plaza & the fourth mass – Wing C is designed on top of these three masses which completes the plaza. All the wings are connected to each other by bridges at various levels. Each of the office wings is designed with a central courtyard, to facilitate the natural light and ventilation to every nook and corner of the space.
The multi-storied parking building is designed instead of a basement parking in order to save the number of existing trees. The connection of parking building to all floor levels allows officers to park their vehicles at the same levels of the offices, minimizing the use of elevators.
Salient Features:
- Internal courtyard (Inside office wings): The landscaped courtyard has been designed with a skylight having turbo ventilators on top, allowing natural light and ventilation.
- Multi-level parking building: It has reduced the overall building footprint, saving existing trees and connection on all floor levels allow officers to park their vehicles at the same levels of the offices, minimizing the use of elevators.
- Landscape: The landscape of the campus is been designed around the existing trees and including native trees serve as naturally shaded waiting areas.
- Stonewall: The memory of the old Collector Office campus has been retained by using stone from the old buildings to create a strong visual base for the new building.
- The Mural: The metal mural of size 10.5X10.0M has been created with the composition of hands creating form of a tree which gives a message “Let’s join hands to save our environment.”
- The heritage Monument: The memory of the old Collector Office campus has been retained by giving due importance to the old porch structure holding the national emblem above it, which is now treated as a monument. The old porch structure is situated at the heart of the central plaza and reminds of campus heritage.
Public Plaza: The large public plaza of 9400 sq.ft is formed connecting all three wings and covered by the top floor, also accommodates the Heritage Monument.
- It also plays a significant role in shaping the visitor’s experience while entering the main building.
- Fins: The Vertical GI fins protect the internal areas from solar radiation and harsh light, allowing the indoor environment to be comfortable, both thermally and visually.
- The Connecting bridges: The bridges spanning 24M provide column less connections between the two office wings.
- The Office building: The office buildings have been planned with a courtyard in the Centre, so that every square inch of the building receives ample daylight and cross ventilation.
- Skylights: Skylights have been provided over the internal courtyards to facilitate stack ventilation and admit natural sunlight into the building.
- The Crown of the Building: The top floor designed for collector office, sits perched above the A and B wings creating a large public plaza on the ground floor.
Green Features:
- The building design is completely based on solar passive, climate responsive design strategies. All the areas are naturally day-lit and ventilated with optimized shading devices designed to control glare and heat gain, achieving thermal and visual comfort.
- Fenestration, Glazing & Envelope – The wall window ratio of the building is limited to 38 %, reducing use of glass in the building. The building envelope is a crucial element; hence facade in this building is designed with Vertical Fins to cut the solar radiation.
- EPI (Energy performance index) – The project EPI is brought down to 28.62 KWh/m2/Year i.e. 5% reduction in Energy Performance Index.
- Landscape strategies – Native landscape species has been planted, which help and maintain the flora and fauna, reducing the demand for water. 100% treated water from STP is used for irrigation purpose reducing fresh water demand 53%.
- Surface treatment – The hardscapes were drastically reduced to minimize the heat island effect and to maximize water percolation by the use of softscape i.e. grass pavers resulting in 1 degree drop in the surrounding.
- Renewable energy consumption – The project has proposed installation of approximately 185 kW Solar Photo-voltaic System which will cater to 100% internal lighting and HVAC consumption of the building.
- Efficient water fixtures have been used, resulting in 50% water conservation.
- Building execution is done with all safety measures & procedures, innovative green construction techniques and effective air and noise pollution control measures.
- Eco-friendly materials such as AAC blocks, fly ash & adhesives have been used in masonry work which saves on mortar & curing. Most of the furniture is made in metal reducing use of wood.
Climate responsive building envelope
The building facade is a crucial element of building design, hence it is designed taking into consideration its orientation and function, as major part of the façade faces west and east.
Facade protected with vertical fins to restrict the solar radiation and allow diffused light providing Thermal and Visual comfort with the use of –
Wall Assembly U factor=0.130 Btu/hr.ft2.ºF
Roof assembly U value: 0.08 Btu/hr.ft2.ºF
Extruded Polysterene Insulation
U value: 0.08 Btu/hr.ft2.ºF 3.
External fins are made of GI Sheet with infill of cellular paper to make it homogenous and light weight.
Fenestration and Glazing –
Project has used efficient DGU glass with SHGC of 0.23 on ground floor and shading devices have been used to completely shade the glazing areas on upper floors to minimize the heat gain from sun and lowers down cooling consumption. At the same time utmost care has been taken to make use of daylight in the building.
Passive cooling strategy
The ventilation strategy aims to promote use of natural ventilation and reducing HVAC demand. All the common areas are naturally ventilated.
Only 20% of the building area is mechanically-air-conditioned.
Courtyard planning
Considering the hot-dry climate of Pune, courtyard in the building plays vital role allowing a stack effect, thus maintaining comfortable temperature inside offices. For offices around the central courtyard, width has been restricted to 7.5M, thus allowing NATURAL LIGHT THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING.
Executed as a green building
The execution of the project also followed environment-friendly ways of construction as per GRIHA norms- Protection of top soil, barricading with GI sheets to reduce the air pollution, protection of existing trees, replanting the existing lawn, curing with gunny bags to save water, labour safety, being a few of the important aspects.
LANDSCAPE STRATEGIES
Use of GRASS PAVERS and GROUND COVERS.
100% STP-treated water has been used for irrigation, which is done by a drip and micro sprinkler technology.
Lawn area is reduced to save on water and is replaced by groundcovers.
110 NATIVE trees planted on site, which helps and maintain the flora and fauna, reducing the demand for water.
The hard areas were replaced by softscape with the use of grass pavers, which helps in minimizing the heat island effect.
ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS
Use of AAC blocks reducing non-structural weight.
Utilization of fly ash in reinforced concrete and masonry mortar up to 35%. Fly ash is used in structural concrete along with the fly ash blocks for walling system to reduce the embodied energy of the building. Most of the furniture is made in metal, saving on wood and plywood. Low VOC paints, low water flow-rate fixtures for toilets, and natural stone have been used. High solar reflective tiles with an SRI of more than 0.87 have been installed on the roof, minimizing heat island effect.
