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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Rajaswa Bhawan in New Delhi, India by VYOMMay 16th, 2019 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: VYOM As India’s financial headquarters, the Rajaswa Bhawan, or the National Tax Headquarters proposed at Kasturba Gandhi Marg in the heart of the capital New Delhi, represents the morals affiliated with the country’s economic aspirations. With its history dating back to more than a thousand years, Delhi has been witnessing a continuous change in its architectural identity, owing to the shift in the central administrative power. The amalgamation of the two predominant styles seen across the city, forms the basis for Indo Saracenic architecture. Used extensively by the British, this revival style defines public and government buildings, including palaces of the princely states built during the nineteenth century. With the site located in the vicinity of buildings such as Rasthrapati Bhawan, Hyderabad House and the Jaipur column, the design of the Rajaswa Bhawan has been directly influenced by Indo-Saracenic architecture.  Image Courtesy © VYOM
The design approach is based on the concept of ‘axis of democracy’ wherein a contemporary built form in line of the axis of the Parliament of India and Rashtrapati Bhawan is designed to sit along with Lutyens’ architectural form. During the conception of the design of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Lutyens envisioned it to dominate the landscape by sitting atop the Raisina Hill, putting the dome at a higher level than that of the Red Fort, symbolizing the authority of the British over the country. However, due to the negligence of Baker, the slope gradient leading to the Viceroy’s House ended up being too steep and only allowed the dome of the structure to be visible from Vijay Chowk. This time period coincides with the imminent decline of the British empire. Hence, the future beckons us to move from imperialistic ideologies and forward towards contemporary practices. The character of the structure depicts the historical context, while it attempts to build a modern vocabulary, to connect the future of the country to its past. Hence, the language of the design juxtaposes with the imperial heritage of the city of Delhi. The extensive use of red sandstone and stone jaali that are inspired from the Mehrab of the Humayun’s Tomb, instantly connects it to the rich Mughal legacy of architecture. Features such as fountains, ponds and decorative walkways from Persian gardens can be seen across the site. On the other hand, elements such as pavilions, gate turrets, feature columns, and gothic dome and façade have been derived from the British architectural vocabulary. The design conceals its mammoth scale through the use of shallow massing in the foreground, as can be envisaged in the case of Rashtrapati Bhawan and Humayun’s Tomb, delicately balancing the aesthetics, proportions and the details of the structure.  Image Courtesy © VYOM  Image Courtesy © VYOM The building houses offices of the Central Board of Direct Taxation, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and an office for the Minister of Finance, which spreads across four floors and a basement. Common facilities such as meeting rooms, library, bank, dispensary, post office, cafeteria, creche and gymnasium are placed on the ground floor, making them equally accessible from all departments. A common parking has been provided in the basement. Taking the massive scale of the project into consideration, each detail has been extensively engineered to help the building achieve a LEED platinum rating. The building is oriented along the North-South, thereby providing maximum day-light together with diffused solar radiation. The strategically located courtyards, provide space for congregation, also provide maximum day light to all departments that are spread across the four floors as well as the basement, with minimal direct solar heat gain. The proposed jaali design further provides a combined shading co-efficient for glass, while retaining better VLT characteristics of clear glass on the north and south façade. The combined Jaali-glass shading co-efficient will be approximately 0.27, thus reducing the solar heat gain of the building. The terraces can accommodate enough solar panels to harness renewable solar energy to generate electricity for internal as well as external artificial lighting. The use of Termodeck hollow slabs in the proposed structural system further enhances the energy efficiency of the building. Termodeck slabs, composed of hollow concrete slabs, use the thermal storage capacity of the building´s structural mass to regulate the internal temperatures. The hollow apertures within the slab are used for conditioned air supply to various areas, downsizing the equipment capacities of the HVAC system, which in turn reduces adverse effect on the environment and electrical demand.  Image Courtesy © VYOM  Ground Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © VYOM  Elevation, Image Courtesy © VYOM  Section, Image Courtesy © VYOM  Fourth Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © VYOM  Jaali Detail, Image Courtesy © VYOM  First Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © VYOM  Second Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © VYOM  Third Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © VYOM
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Categories: Bank, Cafeteria, Government Building, Headquarters, Library, Lounge, Nursery, Offices, Parking |
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