While planning, space design, and building technology help in the process of creating a building, for the most part, it is its façade the defines it, both from the standpoint of sculptural or poetic volumetric, as well as the tactile and optical feelings.
Typically, our urban environments limit us through rigid plot geometries, and a surrounding context, straight-jacketed by archaic planning by-laws. If good quality work is still being done in our cities, it is truly a tribute to the spirit of the design community and the resilience of their patrons!
Fortunately, ever so often, a project comes along, that not just proffers the opportunity for experimentation and “breaking free” but also challenges us in every possible manner from time, budget, technology, and performance to overcoming limitations of skills, material, and a general lack of an eco-system of excellence. Our client, Plasser India, led by their intrepid Managing Director, Siegfried Fink, were copybook examples of the latter.
When they approached ANA for the design of their new manufacturing plant in Karjan, Gujarat, apart from the obvious brief on areas, functionality, and performance of the industrial process, they spelt out the desire to showcase “excellence” as a leitmotif of their company, globally.
Not only did they want this plant and all its components, to be best in class, but they also challenged our knowledge and experience to co-create a new benchmark in building design, and more importantly, building performance.
We embarked with them, on what became a true life-changing 4-year adventure of design, construction, wayside failures, learnings, and, eventually, hard-fought and hard-won success!
The design of the new premises commenced in the second quarter of 2016, with a visit to their global facilities and learnings from their best practices, as well as benchmarking of the possibilities here.
One of our big learnings was, that although we designed and worked to the best technical specification in 90% of the building components, a large number of our buildings fail to achieve that X -factor, purely on account of the last mile detailing, and specifications of simple things like correct fasteners, hangers, industrial construction details and use of industrial processes in building.
It was both exciting, as well as eye-opening and humbling.
We soon realized, that our primary efforts, will not need to be on the “big” things; they will, rather, be on sweating the small stuff. And that the Devil, truly, is in the details……. And it was, for the ANA team, to find Divinity!!
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We achieved some really path-breaking solutions for the design of the structure, building services, and the planning and management of the overall construction.
This building had to be designed for space management, very high and yet energy-efficient performance of building services, cutting-edge PoE lighting, and building automation. And above all else, it was to be the visual statement of the quality, efficiency, dependability, performance, and growth that embodies the global spirit of Plasser.
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Our design ticked all the boxes, and while the services and building are hidden from view, they perform with silent efficiency cloaked in an equally effective and attractive appearance.
The form took on the feel of a delta wing in flight-sharp, clean edges, geometric precision, angular junctions, and no fuss.
We experimented with and discarded several materials that would do justice to the vision. The elevation and façade, if well done, would define the success of the project, and if it went awry, the whole assembly would be an unmitigated disaster.
The area we were building in sees extremely harsh sunlight, as well as a polluted atmosphere, causing acid rain and settlement of airborne pollutants on budding surfaces and our design had to be easy to maintain as well as fulfil technical requirements.
After much deliberation and discussion, we narrowed down to Alucobond Aluminium Composite Panels as the primary façade material, for all the opaque surfaces. The performance specifications matched and surpassed our stated needs, in terms of dimensional stability, weight, thermal performance, adaptability to the design, and ease of maintenance and replacement should a piece get damaged.
Not only is the surface of the material UV stabilized, but it also offers high anti-static quality, thus allowing minimal adherence of particulate matter and very easy maintenance.
We cladded the panels with Aludecor Systems- Male Female Rain Screen System.
And, it has truly turned out to be one of our most stable and successful decisions.
The Technical Team from Aludecor were extremely supportive, in the faithful translation of our concept in their shop drawings. Almost no two surfaces of this building meet at right angles, and the team went through one painstaking detail after another, to understand, resolve, streamline and standardize the details.
Next came the alignment of junctions and the very obvious but often neglected aspect of material optimization. The team worked together, to get all the panels aligned, numbered, and optimized in a manner that we finally achieved less than 5% material wastage.
The team also worked with other materials on the façade, such as curtain glazing and granite cladding, and created a geometric solution of all junctions, alignments, and construction limitations.
A sequencing plan was designed to get the granite and curtain glazing to fit in first. And then the panels wrapped themselves around the whole buildings to bring the spectacular façade to life.
In the entire scheme of things, the Administration Building for Plasser India became, in a manner of speaking the “show-stopper” of this virtuoso performance.
