Aparna World School

Aparna World School Jharsuguda (Odisha), India 2013 - Ongoing 110,000sft/ 12 acres

context

The Aparna World School campus is located in Jharsuguda in the coal mining regions of the Indian State of Odisha. The town typifies the rapidly developing heartlands of India - caught somewhere between on the road from the village to the city. It is an in-betweenness where any sense of the local is unstable through migration and transience, resonating with the erosion of the land in this mining region. Visible in the built environments intensified through the need for rapid construction, this erosion has resulted in the loss of vernacular crafts and a haphazard adoption of standardized materials and methods.

Our response to creating a place within the fluctuating landscape has been by wrapping a fluid interiority of courtyards, verandahs and rooms within a rugged exterior, that apart from the occasional moment of heightened awareness of this relationship, maintanins an assuring sense of being enclosed and protected. The enclosures themselves are a tapestry of enclosed, semi-open and courtyard spaces that lend to a small footprint which swells and recedes to accomodate the vagaries of program and the extremeties of sub-tropical sun and rain. The courtyards further act as rain water harvesters, and when planted with broadleaf regional plant species, as lungs to the pollution caused by the extensive power and mining industries in the area, enabling outdoor learning and play.

These forms also make a connection to traditional typologies in India, without being kitchy about it. Courtyard houses of various scales abound, as do palaces within forts - all similar in principle; a tough exterior - to protect against harshness of climate, the sun, wind, dust, rain, enemies‌but once inside, it is paradise!

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1 Preshool 2 Elementary 3 Middle 4 Middle & High 5 High 6 Dining/ Assembly 7 Info Commons & Media 8 Central Admin 9 Arts/ Assembly 10 Guest House

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Enclosed Semi-Open Open-to-sky Pedestrian Pathway Playfields

Campus Plan

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The school is organized as clusters of age groups. Each cluster has its own identity: The exterior is hefty and protective.

What you see are strong geometric forms, with hints of penetrations. They act as guides of where to go.

On the inside, it all opens up, with an intricate interweaving of classrooms of study, places of meeting, and work courts.

Places where the eye can rest, and the mind can contemplate. Places through which one can meander, places for play and exploration.

The courts, the gardens and the verandahs knit clusters together to form an architecture of porosity. Verandahs are designed to accommodate programs, allowing the seasonal movement towards and away from the sun.

A large school made comprehensible, through the notion of smaller communitiesl. Each community includes of general classrooms, specialty classrooms, local administrative functions, faculty offices, restrooms and outdoor activities.

Preschool South Garden

Elementary School Central Court Š 2016 shubhra raje_built environments

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Phase-1: Ent/ Admin Court, looking towards the Preschool

Phase-1: Ent/ Admin Court, looking towards the Elementary School

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Multivalence

We try to make aspects or elements of a project do more than one thing. in terms of planning, this means we like to see spaces be used throughout the day, even if they are diverse uses…here, for instance, is a verandah that acts as an entry to the preschool. But it is also where meals are had (we encourage kids at this age to eat on the floor. Mats are rolled out, food is served, kids take their plates back to the kitchen (at the right), learn to clean up after themselves). It is also a space where preschool kids take a nap when the climate is favorable, and in monsoons, the play equipment is temporarily relocated here. Thus the verandah becomes a lobby, a dining area, a nap area, a play area…an indispensable area rather than a left-over area. For us this is important because it begins to define our ideas about efficiency, sustainability, resilience and endurance.

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An architecture of extensions & connections The design amplifies and extends visual communication within the building, and between interior and exterior spaces. The courtyards form the anchors, and provide the basis for paths of circulation and a recognizable spatial organization for students and visitors.

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Phase-1: Ground Floor Plan

Phase-1: Study Model Detail of Ent/ Admin Court

Phase-1: Study Model

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Verandahs as connectors, and containers Š 2016 shubhra raje_built environments

Above, from left: Classroom enclosures, with direct and reflected light; corridors between classrooms.

Below: Verandahs as connectors

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CLASSROOMS Focused Learning Lectures Examination / Testing GARDEN / COURT Active in the mornings Extension of Classrooms Break-out Space Smaller Group Learning OUTDOOR CR / CENTRAL COURT Active in the afternoons Extension of Circulation Presentations / Performances Larger Grade/Cluster Level Lectures Assembly Hang-out Space

A nomadism within the built Form follows climate.

Enclosed spaces seek extensions into open spaces.

Extensions lead to a sense of community, of gathering, of a social well-being.

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The use of building materials reflects ground conditions, rather than a romanticized version of the regional or local. With stone mining being banned in the region, in favor of coal and other minerals, waste stone chips from quarries becomes the exterior wall treatment. The bricks for the masonry walls use slag and fly-ash from the local industries. Selective exposed concrete creates opportunities for the training for concrete casting that could be imbibed by the builders in the area hoping that the technology and building system would be replicated in the region. These practices, at the level of the building, are incorporated in order to establish locally relevant precedents for the area. Our approach uses its scale and phasing as an opportunity to utilize the construction site as a place of learning and training in an effort to reinforce construction best practices and reviving the sense for craft and typology within the local community.

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Classrooms are scaled to accomodate various modes of learning, such as discussions and group learning (above) and lecture-based (below). Š 2016 shubhra raje_built environments

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Rainwater Harvesting Well Rainwater collectors (Courtyards) Rainwater Grey Water Leach Fields: glazed stoneware open jointed pipes Playfields

Water Strategies

Credits client: size: project team: education consultant: structural engineer: w.s.d engineer: electrical engineers: photography:

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Aparna Foundation 110,000 square feet Shubhra Raje, Andrew Peterson, Vishal Soni, Sunaina Shah, Erik Drayson AdityaEDU Ami Engineers Jay Consultants Antech Engineers Shubhra Raje, Darshan Mutha, Ajay Poddar