Takshila Academy Activity Centre

Project Name: Takshila Academy Activity Centre
Authors: SGA-Studio

CITATION

Institutional facilities present a functional redundancy in the long term, as the demands on the building are in flux, often expanding and overlapping the intended use with many possible alternate uses. Designed as a dual-function space, the structure assimilates the programme for sports, classrooms and a pavilion into one eloquently designed building. A technical structure, the adept plan assimilates all demands through simple moves in the allocation of functions and circulation.

The seemingly floating roof repurposes trusses from an older structure, sensitively adding a hybrid mechanism to bridge the structural gaps. The access and circulation are designed to resolve possible conflicts, and the heaviness of the enclosed spaces contrasts with the lightness of the roof. The careful placement of the building completes the sports ground, offering an edge and enclosure to the open space.

Within the building, the central volume, with a height demanded by the sporting activity, is flanked by single-storeyed classrooms, making for the enclosure needed in the central space. By dissociating the habitable space from the structure, the architects generate the possible flexibility for the future. The design is careful with resources, and the simple plan is executed through self-assuredness.

In our institutional contexts, the buildings are largely designed on limited budgets with constraints on time, space and energy. This seemingly effortless public structure is rigorously detailed to complete the site and enhance the potential of the space within as well as outside, creating a multi-use, multi-programme, plural space for a fundamentally technical building, and therefore, Takshila Academy Activity Centre by SGA-Studio is awarded a Citation in The Merit List.