CLT induction in India
Location: Pune
Year: 2020
Host: Aakar design
Typology: Residential
The Competition challenges the participants to design an urban or peri-urban housing scheme with an innovative construction system using CLT. It is to explore cross laminated timber as a building material to fulfill the need of urban housing which is one of the main objectives of the Indian Government. The aim of the competition is to create awareness and promote Cross Laminated Timber as a primary building material for the future of housing in India. The idea is to have a system-based design to refine Housing Architecture in India making it more sustainable, green, quick and easy to construct.
Wood and Pune
The Oxford of the East or the queen of deccan, Pune has and will, adorn numerous hats in its vast existence. The metaphorical seed that the Peshwa’s (Maratha rulers) sowed, transformed and bloomed into a cultural and educational hub, richly laced with deep historical roots. The Peshwas were no great city builders, but the development of the WADA as a house form reached its climax in Peshwai Pune and was synonymous with the cityscape, and gave it a distinctive architectural character. A character which adorned wood, its possibilities and celebrated the unique notional quality of it.
Concept
Promoting the essence of community living, the design took shape with accidental interaction spaces like ‘aangans’ at core. These Aangans appeared as an element that blurred the lines between public and private. With such liminal spaces, units were placed in such a sectional language that it overlooked these front yards (aangans) in the north and created a pattern of overhangs at the south overlooking a shaded landscaped area. These unit’s arrangement provided spaces to be used as a threshold between two neighbors. Reminiscent of a chawl, here the aangan was opened up to a narrow but long passage, creating an activity magnet to give more opportunities for people to meet. These units and activity generators are ideated to be in CLT, supported by concrete cores at both the ends.
Design
At the drawing board itself, the design was ideated to be flexible and adapt to changing time. With incremental living as a thought, the intervention houses a structural bridge that serves as a stability member support and also makes the building ready for future, as technology advancement could help this material reach new heights. CLT construction is a zero carbon footprint type of construction, hence it was ideated to provide efficient thermal comfort too. With this goal, the massing took shape where the units were cantilevered developing a pattern, which also by radiant mapping shows helps in making the building much cooler inside and doesn’t leave these CLT panels exposed to weather.
Unit Design
The design of these units makes the most of the strength of the material and hence is used here to provide shaded Aangans. This is achieved by strategic planning of pulling out cantilevers.
