The rustling of leaves, the chatter of children, the feel of moving from hard stone to the softness of grass, the shouts on the playgrounds: the experience of a school is much more than classrooms and learning. At the 35-acre campus of the Vellore International School in Chennai, the experience of the school is a whiff off the heady fragrance of salty air, the feel of landscapes connecting the built and the unbuilt, unfolding pathways through which one can discover cascading pitched roofs reminiscent of hillside settlements. Children can run through green slopes that allow active play and find quiet niches that allow contemplation.
The design scheme draws from two fundamental aspects: first is to respond to the hot, tropical climate of Chennai while keeping in mind the functionality of spaces. The orientation of the school buildings help captures the sea breeze from the East while blocking the harsh Western sun. The second was to create a rich learning environment by blurring the line between the indoor and outdoor. The classrooms are flanked by courtyards, and the many open spaces in the school are designed to create an ambience for both focused and collaborative learning.
The school management brought in their own perspectives that informed the design approach and aesthetic: the management intended the school to have rooted Indian values that co-exist modern holistic education. Additionally, they wanted to bring in elements of emotion with warmth, care, positive memories and humane spaces.
The introduction of traditional sloped roof was a response to this thought. The design helps bring in an unintimidating, human scale and warmth to children while also helping keep the school decidedly rooted in the tropical South Indian city of Chennai.
The spaces of the school are designed to align with the ever-evolving energies of children through time, and help them make memories in this important stage of life.
The academic block was designed to not feel intimidating and closed-off, and has a series of courtyards that are interspersed between the classrooms. These courtyards and open spaces allow for interaction of the children between classes, and they also bring in the much needed ventilation and breeze to suit the local climate.
The landscape and the outdoors were as important to the school design as the classrooms and learning spaces. The amphitheatre is an integral space that nests between green spaces and a waterbody, and is a node for all the high energy school gatherings. A podium on top of amphitheatre acts as elevated ground level, and the branches of trees spreading over the podium and grass sloping from the lower level of the amphitheatre to the podium provides a sense of connectivity. The amphitheatre also demarcates the ‘active zone’ comprising the sports complex including the swimming pool and football field, from the quieter learning zones on the other side.
Conceptual sketches
Floor plans and zoning
Sections through the building
The residential wing : Creating a sense of home
As a residential school, it was important for young children inside the campus to feel a sense of family, home and belonging. Thus, especial care was given to the design of the residential wing to give children the feeling of being part of a family unit within the school.
The hostel module is designed to accommodating 6-students with a common social space, Clusters of 24 students are planned around a courtyard, and a caretaker unit is attached to each courtyard. These units accommodate a ‘houseparent’, an experienced faculty of the school, who lives on campus in close proximity to the children.
Within each hostel module, each student gets their own corner with a small corner window to give them a sense of personal space.
The residential clusters move along a pedestrian spine that gradually increases in level, and the use of mezzanine levels help maintain visual and physical connections across levels. The students can access friend’s clusters easily, helping foster interaction and a sense of openess. Elevated courts are present on the upper levels, maintaining a visual connection to the spine.
In this manner, the design of the hostel and of the school responded to the school’s requirement of creating a space that is associated with warmth and care, one that is reminiscent of home.
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Project Architects: Sanjay Mohe, Chelliah, Greeshma Avathi, Arun Kumar, Mira Poonacha
Location: Chennai
Typology: Educational
Photos: Mindspace, Vellore International School
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