A Research Campus by Keetham Lake: International Potato Centre, Agra

The International Potato Centre (CIP) South Asia Regional Centre in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, is planned as a research Campus set into its landscape, where agriculture, science and environment work as one system. It will support research on potato, sweet potato and tuber crops, and on food and nutrition security across South Asia. As part of the global CGIAR research network, the centre will link international science with regional farming practice.

Starting with the landscape

The site lies near Keetham Lake, within the Sur Sarovar ecological zone. It is a sensitive landscape, shaped by the Yamuna river system and its wetlands, and that context became the starting point of the plan. Instead of imposing buildings on the site, the design begins with the land, so that the research facilities sit alongside biodiversity corridors, farmland and the wider ecology around the Campus.

Rooted in land, scaling knowledge

The concept is summed up in a phrase: rooted in land, scaling knowledge. Laboratories, polyhouses, aeroponic facilities and experimental fields are planned as one research environment, so that Laboratory work, crop experiments and agricultural production happen side by side. The Master Plan is arranged as a series of connected zones:

• advanced Laboratories
• greenhouses, polyhouses and other controlled cultivation facilities
• open research farmland
• cold storage and post-harvest facilities
• homes and social spaces for scientists and researchers

Because these sit together, research can move from genetic studies to field trials and crop processing within one place.

Restrained buildings

The Architecture is restrained and practical, built around clarity, adaptability and response to climate. The buildings are designed to support scientific work efficiently while keeping a strong visual and spatial relationship with the fields around them. Rather than striking forms, the aim is durable research buildings that stay useful as agricultural technology changes. Our role was to make Architecture that supports this work and stays close to the farmland, the lake and the wetlands that define the site.