The KHB Trust to rejuvenate a 5 acres unused park in Bangalore adjacent to their existing institute has proposed to create a museum & auditorium, simultaneously landscaping the park to make a public space.
The gently contoured site is entered by an access road on the southern side sloping down towards the north with 2 small existing ponds. The landscape proposal links these two ponds creating a small waterfront on the northern perimeter of the site with stepped platforms imbibed from the ‘Stepped Ghats’ that are famous in the region of site’s location.
The museum , auditorium & cafeteria along with a large cafeteria are sited on the SE corner orienting all the spaces towards the landscaped areas on the north & reducing heat gain in a location that has temperatures in excess of 30°C most of the year.
The disposition of the enclosed spaces is done in a manner that allows the built spaces TO gradually emerge from the garden in terms of height thereby reducing the building volumes from the public garden , ascending towards the south east corner housing single level spaces, with the 2nd and 3rd level diminishing in plan towards the southern end with a clock tower that is a part of the client’s brief.
Fragmented into numerous cuboids the building creates a sculptural internal space that echoes the organic hill settlements of old Indian cities externally.
The design creates public spaces that are open as well as enclosed & semi enclosed sequentially responding to the client’s brief, the climate of the location & need for public space to rejuvenate an unused open land in the heart of an urban area.