CONNECTED BY COURTS AND BRIDGES

The project designed by Charged Voids is influenced by Le Corbusier's modernist legacy and finds expression in the sky-lit corridors of the hostel.

Project: CGC Student Hostel Landran, Punjab; Architects: Charged Voids

The student hostel, located within a 25-acre campus in Landran, a semi-urban area close to Mohali, draws from Le Corbusier's modernist legacy. The 10-storey building occupies the campus' bus yard in place of designing on the proposed greenfield site. A simple triangular plan makes the most of the oddly-shaped site while playing with levels to create multiple interactive volumes.

The primary idea was to step away from the enclosed vocabulary of the existing campus buildings by freeing the new building of boundary walls, in an attempt to create shaded recreational spaces. This idea manifests in the form of a triple-height, sunken public court situated at the core of the hostel's basement, which can be accessed by a wide flight of steps leading down from the approach road. The court shapes a central atrium intersected by bridges at multiple levels and terminating in large skylights. The lower floors, including the sunken court, are open to public access during the day, and to the hostel occupants after closing hours. TV rooms with individual sunken courts, a gym, a multipurpose hall and other ancillary facilities are arranged around the main courtyard.