Thapar University Student Residence Two

The site for the Womens Residences completes a small quad with three existing women students’ accommodation buildings. Considering these as a square, and connecting the four buildings with a cruciform rose garden, the new block is formed around an internal courtyard, with social spaces pulled forward of the plane of the walls to generate stacked glazed rooms in alternating positions which facilitate visual communication across the blocks and create a strong dynamic at the heart of the scheme.

At ground level, the blocks dissolve into two bars of accommodation, to make a welcoming entrance between and views out to a green space beyond. A concrete transfer structure gives a strong pattern on the ceiling of beams which span diagonally back and forth to create spaces for dining, gym, meeting rooms and reception opening to the garden courtyard. The ground plane is developed with a circular pattern of red Agra sandstone and white marble paving around planting beds and trees, the ground plane alternatively raised and depressed to create shaded garden areas for talking and meeting.

Student rooms are clustered around social spaces on each floor, with views through openings or screened with GRC screens in a soft grey. Taking clues from traditional Indian architecture, jali screens are used to provide shade to balconies and rooms, with a layered pattern developed and horizontal bands defining storey heights.