The Gyaan Center, Jaisalmer
Architects: Diana Kellogg Architects
COMMENDATION
In the hot-dry landscape of Jaisalmer, this school seeks to create a new typology – a space that addresses its functional and climatic obligations eloquently, all the while creating a unique spatial and material language for the building. Imagined as a clear oval form in an amorphous landscape, the built space encloses a courtyard sanctum as classrooms and ancillary functions form an envelope around it. The sandstone screen is designed as an unorthodox walling system that allows breeze to permeate through the building enclosure and into the courtyard in a stack effect. The roof of the building houses a series of solar panels with a dual purpose – generation of power and shading of the space underneath. The built form draws from the courtyard typologies of the context but resists iconography – thus creating an architecture that is both – modern and contextual. Small institutions in India have the potential to significantly influence the developing peri-urban landscape. This school represents the vigour of architecture as an implement of change and therefore, the Gyaan Center by Diana Kellogg Architects is a Commendation Project for The Merit List.
Images & Drawings: Diana Kellogg Architects