Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University occupies a 50-acre site in Lucknow. The master plan draws on the region's Architectural heritage and works with axial alignments, symmetry and open ground between the blocks. Administrative, academic and residential zones, the last holding the Vice Chancellor's residence and staff housing, are kept distinct but connected, so the campus reads clearly to anyone arriving for the first time.

From the courts to the round hall

The university building is grand in scale, but the ground around it is open: two courts within the building, and lawns laid out on its axis between it and the round auditorium. Jaali screens over the windows do real work against the Lucknow sun, and the earth-toned walls and cornice mouldings catch the light as it moves through the day. Across the lawn, the auditorium is ringed by a two-storey colonnade, a shaded place to gather before a lecture or a performance. Inside, the hall for 2,000 is planned so that every seat can see and hear the stage, and large glazed panels bring daylight into the spaces around it.

Stepped tiers and chhatris

The university building, of basement, ground and nine floors, is the centrepiece. It rises in stepped tiers edged with chhatris towards a central dome, and it is arranged around two open courts. The symmetrical front is set out in vertical bands with recessed windows. Jaali screens shade the openings, so the ornament does real work against the Lucknow sun.

A round hall for 2,000

The convention block takes a circular form, ringed by a two-storey colonnade, with large glazed panels that let in daylight. It gathers seminar halls, a library, a museum and an auditorium for 2,000 people. The hall is planned so that every seat can hear and see the stage, and it serves the university's cultural life as well as its conferences: a lecture in the morning, a student performance in the evening.

Earth tones and native planting

The elevations are finished in earth tones, with jaali and cornice mouldings giving them depth. Buildings are oriented for natural ventilation and daylight, rainwater is harvested, and the landscape uses indigenous plants that need little irrigation and temper the microclimate around the buildings. The campus was designed to achieve at least a GRIHA 3-star rating.

The foundation stone was laid on 25 December 2019 and the campus was handed over in March 2024. ARCH-EN DESIGN served as engineer-in-charge and managed the project for UP PWD.