Anne Geenen; Samuel Barclay
In our research of projects in various parts of the world, we came across a campus by Case Design, which is a collection of simple structures arranged around an informal series of walkways, courtyards, gardens and terraces. This new school campus, the Avasara Academy, is close to Lavale village near Pune and provides for the education of young women in India. Rooms have been positioned around the perimeter of the buildings allowing the central core to be completely open to serve solely for circulation purposes.
This part of India is warm and humid. The natural environmental response is to draw air in from the outside through a series of earth ducts, where it is passively pre-cooled, before being supplied into the classrooms and living spaces. These solar chimneys use the heat from the sun, designed to drive the entire air-flow. A concrete structure provides an open matrix of spaces with bamboo screens providing shade.
Case Design states that FREESPACE is created by thoughtful participants who are willing to engage in the act of making, describing moments of intimacy. In the 16th International Architecture Exhibition, they present models, tables, stools, lights, screens forming scaled spaces in which to sense other places and other lives.
YF+SMcN