Wrapped in a Perforated Screen

Project: Krohne Marshall New Manufacturing Campus, Pune (Re-development and Expansion)

- Aswathy Ganesh

The factory provides an example of industrial architecture that goes beyond the basic necessity of housing complex manufacturing processes to provide a salubrious work environment for its users. Constituted with the purpose of manufacturing valves and liquid-flow metres, the factory is a joint venture between the German and Indian corporations Krohne and Forbes Marshall respectively. The quest for a fresh design approach towards expanding their existing factory led them to the architects. The factory building is the result of elaborate planning and design strategies to accommodate two major challenges– first, the need to bind an old factory premise with a new structure, and second, the construction of the new building while the old factory continued to function.

On a 1.1 acre plot, the expansion of the factory is a four storeyed structure (G+3) of roughly 8000sq m, linked to the existing two storeyed factory of roughly 2000sq m. The space where the two structures meet is transformed into a triple-height atrium by replacing part of the existing terrace slab with a polycarbonate roof. The new structure includes a partial double-height workshop space, vortex rigs, office spaces, training rooms, utility and service areas. One enters from the south-western side into a reception lobby that overlooks the atrium. Vehicles are lead into a basement parking facility below the new building. The reception lobby is flanked by workshops on either side. In order to avoid exposure to the harsh sun on the south, the service block forms a solid mass to the southwestern side of the building. The upper floors house the office spaces and administration.