The Girls hostel at Mann School designed by Envisage is a definite attempt to create an engaging space which nurtures learning without compromising on safety, sustainability and happiness.
Today as the pandemic has given an impetus to online education, however once the new normal sets in, this story will undergo a reform. Hence it is even more essential for educational institutions and campuses need to go beyond the typical brick and concrete structures and instead create a welcoming and uplifting environment for fostering education.
Schools shouldn’t feel like regimented structures but offer various visual choices in terms of connection with spaces. Every student should have a connection with their school building, hostel or campus and be able to call it their own so that they are comfortable in the environment. The Girls hostel at Mann School designed by Envisage takes note of all these finer aspects to create a space which responds to the needs as also the surrounding nature. It’s a completely unpretentious, user-centric green building – an ideal example of form getting derived from function.
Meena Murthy Kakkar, Design Head and Partner, Envisage says “Envisioned as a home away from home – the Girls Hostel at Mann School follows an empathetic design approach, offering children a safe learning environment with the freedom to interact, engage and grow. The client was keen to create a safe environment for the girls with all the necessary functional requirements and a multitude of public spaces. Since the hostel building is located within the complex of the Mann School, one of the primary requirements of the design was to blend it cohesively within its surroundings. Functionally, it houses the dormitories for girls from grade 1-12, a study hall, and common recreational areas like a game and television room, a computer room, and a salon, catering to their every requirement in one place.”
The complex of the Mann School follows a designated colour scheme in its buildings, with extensive use of red bricks. While designing the new hostel, it was decided to create a building that was muted and would not stand out. For the design of the new hostel, however the campus’ existing colour scheme of red and grey is maintained, while brick is used as a critical design element on the facades to help it blend cohesively within its surroundings. The use of neutral grey matches Delhi’s typical tones of the sky, which also reduces the effect of the red colour.
Spatially, the hostel is spread over three floors, with each floor catering to a different age group of students and the facilities required by them. The residential facilities for younger children (grade 1-4) are planned on the ground floor, so they don’t have to climb up the stairs, thus ensuring safety. The first and second floors, on the other hand, are dedicated to facilities for older students: 4-bedded and 6-bedded dormitories with individual beds and study areas. The infirmary and the salon are also positioned on the first floor to accommodate all the facilities in one place, making the hostel self-sufficient.
There are various indoor play areas spread across the three floors of the building, with inward-looking terraces to help create a sense of visual connection for everyone, regardless of where they are positioned. Since the building overlooks a central courtyard, all activity areas such as the games room and the computer lab are planned around it in the basement. This is further connected to an amphitheater, where everyone comes together to celebrate and have get-togethers. The space inside the hostel is envisioned as one of fun, enjoyment and loads of interaction under the watchful eye of a warden, whose residence overlooks the same central courtyard.
The central courtyard is precisely aligned in the North West – South East direction to catch the south-westerly winds during the monsoon, thus ensuring ventilation throughout the building. Bricks jaalis are used as partitions between the central courtyard and the peripheral area for ventilation and for the seating in the corridors and the play area.
The South and West walls of the building are made with the rattrap bond, and mud phuska (compacted soil with hay) is used for thermal insulation to reduce the ingress of heat by almost 70%. Comfort is derived from natural weather conditions as opposed to artificial heating and cooling systems. The North wall has numerous fenestrations that offer views of the greenery outside and ensure optimum ingress of diffused light and air into the building.
The design primarily uses Indian stones such as Granite, Kota and Dholpur Stone, which were sourced locally to reduce the usage of resources and unnecessary transportation costs. All the finishes and materials used in the building are low maintenance and affordable – paint and tiles, granite, laminates on the door – keeping in mind that the setting is to be used by young children. Bricks used on-site have been procured from local kilns to reduce the carbon footprint. The windows are made of uPVC, keeping the heat transmission through the glass to a minimum.
The design strategy also focused on integrating maximum natural light within the building, which enables well-lit spaces for studying and ensures the mental and physical well-being of the students. The hostel is designed with numerous common study rooms that provide white light through ceiling-mounted LEDs and tube lights to ensure that the spaces are well-lit for students to study and read comfortably.
The Girls Hostel at Mann School takes into consideration all the specific design elements to ensure the space creates a viable and conducive environment to foster learning and fun. In designing this project the architects too derived a great deal of professional gratification. “A lot is going inside the building, which encourages engagement and makes the space student-friendly. Our biggest takeaway from this project, says Meena Murthy Kakkar “is not going with a head full of ideas when a project comes to hand and giving ourselves a chance to do something new. Beside this, the client’s involvement in the project has been very significant. Usually, as architects, the terms we hear most often are – budget, timeline, and finish. But this was a case where we heard the words – girls, home, safety and happiness more than anything else. This was certainly an encouraging factor and pushed us to give our best as well.”
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