4.1
A section you can walk
Standing at the entrance, a student can look straight up to the fifth floor and see where they are going.
Case study 08 / 10 · Education & Research
The section is the idea
Classroom Complex, IIT Madras, Chennai
The main academic block for IIT Madras carries the Campus walking culture indoors, in a section of stairs and escalators open from the ground to the top floor.
- Project
- Classroom Complex, IIT Madras
- Location
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- Client
- IIT Madras
- Built-up area
- 35,000 m²
- Site area
- 2 acres
- Project value
- ₹350 crore
- Status
- In design
01
The brief
The main academic block for the institute: twenty classrooms of 180 seats each and two tiered lecture halls for 608 and 512 students, about 35,000 m² in all.
02
The site
IIT Madras is a Campus people walk through: its roads are shaded by old trees, students move between departments on foot and by bicycle, and much of daily life happens in the open. The site is a compact 2 acres on a working Campus.
03
The idea
Carry the walking culture into the building rather than leave it at the front door. From the ground to the top floor, the building opens up in a continuous sequence of stairs and escalators, visible from the entrance.
When people can see the floor they are heading to, they tend to walk to it. Lifts, staircases and fire cores are all provided, but the open section makes walking the natural choice, and the landings become places to meet between lectures.
- 1Walk from ground to roofA continuous switchback of stairs and escalators climbs the open atrium, landing on every floor.
- 2See where you are goingFrom the entrance the eye travels straight up to level 5, so walking becomes the natural choice.
- 3Tamil classical base, up to 9 mStone columns, a Kolam-pattern terracotta jaali and a clay tile canopy give the lower floors shade, depth and a regional character.
- 4Quieter upper floorsAbove a recessed band of glass, the terracotta floors are calm and regular, so the building sits easily in the academic setting.
- 5The roof as a silhouetteA thin, flat roof with deep overhangs, lifted above the top floor and recognisable from across the Campus.
- 6Lifts and fire coreProvided alongside the atrium, but no longer the only way up.
- 7Classrooms and lecture hallsTwenty 180-seat classrooms on one side; tiered halls for 608 and 512 on the other.
04
The design
4.2
Two registers on the facade
Up to nine metres the facade draws on Tamil classical Architecture: rhythmic columns and terracotta jaali screens give the base depth, shade and a sense of place. Above, the floors are quieter.
4.3
The roof and the structure
The roof gives the complex a silhouette recognisable from across the Campus. A composite steel structure spans the large lecture halls and speeds up construction on a working Campus.
More views
05
Outcome
The Classroom Complex is in design for IIT Madras.