Aesthetical Structure - Indus, Taloja

Indus Pvt Ltd is a private incorporated company subsidiary of Kawasaki in Vashi. Indus intended to set up an industrial complex at Taloja MIDC area, Raigad district of plot area 2161.92 Sq. Well briefing is very important aspect for designing and Indus was very clear about their requirements. They briefed very well about their set process in production building and made the architect aware about their refurbishing process of Rotor bundles.

After understanding process flow,the technical requirements for their process for facilitating locations of EOT Crane 1 in number and Jib Cranes 6 in numbers in the production area. The second part of the building, which was office area, which they must share with their Japanese counterparts and the office space must be designed in such a way to maintain some extent of isolation for Japanese and common workplace for both the parties.

Building consists of a four-story office building totally constructed in pre-engineered steel, which is innovatively used in construction to provide design aesthetics. Themain production plant building of 18m in height was designed and constructed adjoining office building, as it required heavy machines on ground and on heavy-duty mezzanine finished with trimix floor.

Thought Process

As the given plot was, parallelogram. The aim was to occupy maximum area possible fulfilling all the functional requirements. Keeping that in mind initial sketches were evolved and further discussed with the client for their contribution in terms of facilities required, their product movement and process flow as well as administrative setup.

Moreover, the plot was executed in phases, phase 1 included part of production building where phase 2 included office building. Hybrid building using combination of RCC and steel in this project to integrate different programs within a single structure development of multiple stories. The thought of structural steel technology given in project to take challenges of architectural requirements in terms of aesthetics, longer spans, and greater heights.

Using Steel

When it comes to sheer speed of delivery pre-engineered buildings will always have upper hand over traditional construction techniques making it singular well suited of the client. The architect wassure todeliver what client wanted in terms of longevity, Versatility, and sustainability. The pre-engineered technology offered quick solution to any design problems and simulation of the behaviour of the two buildings studied to take care of various forces and deflections to and of the two separate structures i.e., production and office.

Due to space constraints in Navi Mumbai region,the building space was optimized with efficient slender columns maximizing useable floor space, longer spans for open, column-free spaces and the integration of HVAC systems into structural spaces allowing reduction of floor-to-floor height. The joints and junctions of two different structures can easily be designed and fabricated either in the workshop or at site at ease and designed for a reverse.

Architectural Features

Conceptualizing everything, a 3-dimentional view was prepared and studied, an element, which could link up the elevation and yet be proportional. On east face, intersecting blocks, which were further developed into staggered massing, was a thought evolved to cut down the length of the facade. Easily synchronize aesthetic architectural elements such as curtain walls, structural glazing, and cantilever glass canopy with basic structural work without much special provisions as in other conventional systems, thus offering economy.

This is giving a great advantage to the project in venturing for larger cantilever pergola. Detailing of external façade/skin will become an integrated part of the structural grids and frames themselves making it very monolithic and more stable. External east facing façade has vertical as well as horizontal strip double-glazing unit DGU’s are designed to reduce heat loss and solar heat gain entering the office building. It ensures increased energy-efficiency and cost reduction with the elimination of blinds and artificial lights and reduction of HVAC load.

Factory roof with Polycarbonate punctured sheets used to take the maximum advantage of natural light in production area. Office building overlooks the production that creates visual connection through DGU’S to reduce sound from factory building.

Geometrics

The pure geometry is followed in plan as well as elevations. In office building, every floor was treated as a separate mass and this mass acted as individual blocks that evolved from the glazing and work area required for office building. Façade is designed with keeping it in different materials as ACP Cladding, structural glazing, MS pergola, pre-engineered building materials so each material specified geometry to improve the aesthetical value of structure. Facade overlays glazing that divides the elevation both horizontally and vertically bringing about an interesting variation in the overall profile of the building.

For designing, 2-D Development software’s as Autodesk Zwcad and for 3D modelling Google sketch up, 3-D Max, Lumion, Archicad used. Software such as Stadpro v8i, E-tabs were used for the structural detailing part of the design of steel and RCC structures, MCB and Tekla for designing P.E.B structures.

Learnings

The project demanded too many things under one roof. Comparatively it was not a very big site and in small project, it so happens that Indus wanted to get maximum value out of the money he has invested. The design process allowed us offering effective solutions to the creative design leading to economy as well.

Project complexity is anticipated by amount of time an architect must spend designing, detailing, and administering a project. The struggle between quality and quantity, especially when pressed by time and money handled by project management team to achieve originality of design. As many things at one place, because of this at times it was very tough to arrive at a decision in balancing the cost, designing point of view, specifications and fitting the project as per the period.

Overall, basis all thiswas taken positively and agreed to do it within a span of 8 months and executed the project in phases to complete the work as per to M.I.D.C approvals.

“The project really came out the way we expected it to evolve. Looking at the structure gives a sense of a visual balance, as the height of the building is proportional to its length. We struggled hard for this project, as we wanted it to a landmark in Taloja MIDC. The client is very happy after achieving value for investment. I feelit is a combination of architectural skills and engineering treatment, proper specifications, time management skills and cost control. All of this is an outcome of the good work you do and seeing such happy and satisfactory clients.”

Prashant Deshmukh, Principal Architect, Prashant Deshmukh & Associates