Architectural Photography and Journalism

ARC4013 – B1
Digital Assignment 1

Urban Contemporary Adit

15BAR0002 Kavvya S
15BAR0013 Jagadeesh
15BAR0018 David Dennis

Would you like to feel small because of a man made structure? Not all buildings can elicit that kind
of feeling from you. But that’s exactly what the new building of VIT would do. Mahatma Gandhi
Block(MGB) on the far end of the University’s campus houses three major departments -
Architecture School, Business school and Design school. When you stand in front of the building
designed by Architect Sanjay Mohe and gaze upwards, the only 3 storey high structure would seem
like it would engulf you with its wide span. You would find a conglomeration of different modules of
concrete and porous frames interplaying with one another in the façade.
The architect has played with porotherm
bricks on the facade mixed with greys and
whites being either painted or exposed
concrete itself. It’s a play with texture, visually
and physically. The more you walk towards the
building the more you pay heed to the number
of protrusions and cavities within the façade.
You would realise that the interiors would
definitely be naturally ventilated, given its
porous nature, allowing ample amount of
fresh air inside.

The entry of MGB would seem like a

rectangular outline made out of raw concrete
and act as a frame to the front. Half the frame
is a path leading immediately to the core of
the building and the other half that leads
upstairs to the corridors on its periphery. One
would immediately feel the difference in
temperature from the outside the further you
walk in. It’s a well shaded and airy cavity in the
centre of the structure. The shorter sides of
the entire building are left open forming a
tunnel from which light and air from the
exterior enters.

What makes it not a tunnel would be the various bridges

that interconnect the various parts of the floors and sides
of the interiors. It would kindle your curiosity wondering
which bridge leads who to where and how you would
even find the stairs that lead to that bridge. As you try
and find those stairs, you would stumble upon other
dimensions inside its depths and start pondering where
those paths lead instead. If you are in a hurry to find your
classroom at 8am in the morning you would not
appreciate the complexity and the thought put in to
design this building of interest. But if you are curious, and
if you like your mind to be tricked and surprised, there is
fun written all over MGB.

Even the fenestrations are not just windows with 90cm

sill height. They vary in heights, even shapes like squares,
rectangles and circles and also if they are open or clad in
glass. Visually, you are able to perceive every space in the
building if stood in the right angle and position as there
are no closed walls that define a space. Most of the doors are clad in glass from top to bottom and
are slide if auditory privacy is needed. This means that you could literally peak out of your classroom
to look inside another classroom’s lecture!

Though there might be argument of privacy, spaces that do need to stay secluded are tucked into a
corner such as the staffrooms, whether through access or visual aspects. They are not out in a place
that can readily be seen by the public. Doors and
windows are definitely not the only means of
creating or marking a closed boundary. The very act
of venturing through the building searching for your
actual destination becomes a distraction to actually
invading privacy.

In conclusion, the complexity of MGB may be

questioned as whether it is practical being an
institution building or not, but as a structure that
breaks all monotony, proves functional and
conserves energy, it is definitely an ingenious
creation.