Tailored By Design

Amidst obstinate terrains and with limited resources, a school emerges discreetly within a disorganised urban fabric. The architecture cuts across socio-economic challenges, budget constraints and heritage legislations but respects each with equanimity.

- Shriti Das

The Bright Horizon Academy in Hyderabad, not-for is embedded within a set of challenges. Challenges that are often perceived as hindrances but the built-form express no such notions. The funds for construction were limited as the school is run by ‘not-for’ funded, a not-for-profit educational trust. The school functions solely on donations which set a tight budget and demanded economical and durable choices.

The chosen site is located in the Golconda Fort Precinct and overlooks the Golconda Fort, the Qutb Shahi Tombs, the skyscrapers of Lanco Hills and the unchecked low-rise, high-density houses beneath. But the vicinity is rife with unorganised development. The walled precinct is highly contoured and covered with sheet rock and boulders. Such terrains are a topographic trait of the Deccan Plateau. The boulders cannot be blasted due to proximity to heritage structures and the dense urban fabric. Chemical disintegration or manually breaking the rocks was economically unviable. Furthermore, blasting, chemical disintegration or manually breaking the rocks may result in weakening the terrain and hard strata.

The economic and topographical constrains posed a major challenge. The site being located in a Heritage Zone gave rise to height restrictions in design. But these deterrents were incorporated seamlessly into architecture. They lend the building a unique character and identity.