Reclaim Reuse Reshape: A New Era of Sustainable Design

March 6, 2025
By: Priyanshi Shah
INFLUENCERS

Designed by Ar. Gauri S Gandhi and Ar. Vikas Gandhi, this office building redefines the language of reclaim and resume, enhancing the sustainable design. The architecture of the structure is generated by layering two distinct orientations—that of the Site and its surrounding Roads and the existing suburban Railway line that adjoins the site.

Site Context: The layering is multi-scalar, operating, firstly, in how the overall sustainable design spaces and form of the building are articulated, including its external landscaped areas. It is most powerfully expressed in the pyramidal form of the entrance area, which is a meeting point for the two orientations the building responds to. Yet, the same layering is also articulated through the textural rhythms of the perforated screen that envelopes the main lobby stack as well as the structural system that undergirds the glazing.

Finally, the idea of layering is carried through to sustainable design details such as the flooring and lighting systems, which are not laid orthogonal to the wall but rather at the same angle the site makes with the railway.

Material Articulation: In its active sense, the architecture’s material realization employs the mode of salvage form and reclamation of the existing shed that stood at the site. One wall of the shed remains as a fragment that testifies to the memory of its existence. Yet, the sustainable design does not end there. Each piece of material in this older structure has not left the site.

Its bricks, broken into bats, now comprise the base of the foundation; the structural girders have been incorporated into the new building; and the corrugated roof finds new life both within the interiors of the entrance and the screen wall around the building’s northeast corner. In this sense, rather than consuming energy and generating emissions, what would otherwise be deemed waste is strategically deployed to create a distinctive architectural expression and sustainable design.

The glass surface employed provides the inhabitants with a seamless experience between the interiors and the outside. While the interiors are well-lit, the light is glare-free; to the north and east, the structure is shaded abundantly by large trees, while to the west, the glass surface is fully shaded by the fire escape and the edge of the neighboring building. The use of glass also ensures transparency between various interior spaces, including how the basement is lit by its adjacent landscaped courts. The vertical core is designed to perform as a community space, wherein the main staircase is interspersed with various kinds of seating areas.

Sustainability Through Both Active and Passive Strategies: The Reclamation-based strategy of the sustainable design is also done in a manner that nearly eliminates all repetitious cladding. This minimizes the introduction of additional processes and materials and makes the building speak profoundly to the spirit of the industrial estate and the neighborhood it stands in. Through many such intended sustainable design decisions, it reduces waste, energy consumption, and recycling existing Resources through its process and expression.