‘To rebel with a cause’; the big blank concrete central library of the Shoolini University in Solan, overlooks a beautiful green valley.
Sitting in the landscape as an impassive built piece, peacefully positioned, the building stands out, reflecting the nature of its function and physically manifests the philosophy of this biotechnology campus.
Conceptually, this four-floor structure is an intense interconnected volume of voids and solids, connecting the entire building as a large fictional plate.
It starts as a narrow strip of an extroverted, yet shaded space on the lower two floors.
These are research cells and discussion areas of senior students and faculty. The upper two floors are made deeper as the contours recede and the front remains aligned.
This allows for the creation of a large central courtyard that pours uniform indirect light into all the parts of the built floors.
The courtyards connect playfully in voids and volumes, as they broaden up to the terrace to become a natural container of light.
This unrestricted light, but controlled temperature and views bring the required climatic control within the building.
The spatial superstructure and the exclusivity of the elevation, elevates the role of the library on the campus and evaluates the campus for it’s international sensibility. It gives the university an apt image, an ideal icon. Source by Studio Archohm.
Location: Solan, India
Architects: Studio Archohm
Principal Architect: Sourabh Gupta
Project Team: Sanjay Rawat, Bhoomika Singhal, Sanjay Bisht
Structural: Roark Engineers Consulting
Electrical: Archohm Consults
Plumbing: Techno Engineering Consultants
Site Area: 4,257 sqm
Built-Up Area: 2,476.88 sqm
Year: 2013
Client: Foundation for Life Science and Business Management, Mr. Vishal Anand & Mr. Atul Khosla
Photographs: Andre J Fanthome
