The Building

The Design Concept

For a child, the school building is the starting point on the road to aesthetic appreciation. Schools are houses for children which supply the surroundings pertaining to development and education.

Education is taken to mean :

"The process by which each child is helped to prepare itself for adult life"

The challenge was to create an architectural environment that will not only support but inspire an educational process and act as a link between home and the world since education at school is a continuation and extension of parental education at home.

Great care has been taken while designing the school building and an effort has been made to achieve as close a connection as possible both practically and emotionally between the school and the home. School is the stage to play the drama of education.

The most impressionable years in the life of man are those that are spent in school. Bad or improper environment may stunt the child's growth and distort his views by wrong exposures. Therefore, the greatest emphasis has been laid on creating a perfect environment.

· An environment in which the child can wear out its joys and sorrows.
· An environment that should act as a link between the home and the world.
· An environment suitable to the fanciful tastes of the youngsters.
· An architectural environment that will not only support but also inspire an educational process.
· A flexible environment which will be adaptable to various educational process.
· An environment that children can use and learn from; in other words, what children themselves will like.
· An environment in which a child may develop his latent potentialities to the farthest point.

The school is like a plant where children are prepared for adult life.
"Children are our raw material: Our product - their mental and social growth".

The whole school has been divided into different plants, as the administrative plant, the community plant, the classroom plant, special classroom plant, thus evolving a campus plant design.
"Children are the basis of our school design".

The child is the subject, not the object of education and consequently of the school building. The school has been designed with the pupils as the yardstick. More accurately, it might be called "The humanistic approach" or "Pupil approach".

The building has been designed as a colourful, inspiring and a pleasant place to go to school. The child's physical and emotional needs have been taken care of by safe structures, proper sanitation, sound conditioning, good lighting and ventilation. The school is well equipped and children are proud of it. The school provides a sense of security, protection, unity, the institutional feeling and the feeling of ownership. The school is like their personal property. Every part of the school has been adapted to the child's needs so that the fullest possible contribution can be made by the building as an instrument of education.

The School

The school building is located on a site in Sector 45-B, entirely level, having an area of 4 acres. The site is surrounded by V3 roads on the N-E and S-E sides, Dev Samaj College on the S-W side and an approach road on the N-W side leading to the entrance. A four story structure was found necessary in order to achieve the maximum F.A.R. permissible and to allow enough space for playing and landscaping, The main entrance lies on the N-W side which has less frequented roads. Owing to the hot climate of the region, the whole building is oriented N-S.

The building greets the children with overwhelming fascination. The approach is open armed and friendly with landscape all around. The building merges with the surrounding giving a friendly appearance.

Open pathways, with cobbled stone flooring, surrounded by beautifully designed gardens, with waterfalls, take you to the entrance lobby. Administration is centrally located on the first floor and is approached by a magnificent flight of steps leading to the reception.

The lobby/entrance space leads the child to the staircase/Ramp which takes him to the upper floors. Flowing through these spaces, the 8' wide corridors are the school's thoroughfares. The school is divided into 2 parts by 2 internal courtyards. The corridors are single loaded with classrooms on one side and are wide enough to accommodate a lot of traffic. The corridors and the small/wide lobbies provided here and there facilitate the movement of the teachers and the students.

Class rooms have been evenly distributed on all floors with the administration being centrally located on the first floor for efficient working of the school. The general office/Principal's office is easily approachable to visitors without disturbing the teaching areas. The basic movement of the staff, visitors and the students is separated. The principal's office on the first floor has an authoritarian position overlooking most parts of the school campus. The school has 2 staff rooms well equipped and fitted with modern amenities.

The Classroom

Classrooms, which are the main components of the school, govern the design of the whole school. The basic principle is flexibility - flexibility to keep pace with the changing concepts of education's role in the learning process. All classrooms are of equal size and they are arranged in the same grid. Every classroom is approached from the corridors. All the classrooms are oriented N-S and have adequate lighting situation. All classrooms are 20' X 22' and are suitable to accommodate about 40 senior students.

Special Rooms

For students of craft, science, social studies, computers etc. special rooms have been provided. They include :

1. Home science lab
2. Physics lab
3. Chemistry lab
4. Biology lab
5. Computer room
6. Art room
7. Music room
8. Social studies room
9. Museum

All these rooms are well equipped with the latest amenities and are located in the noise free zone of the building.

Library

The library is located in the basement of the building which is a totally noise free area. The atmosphere in the library is quite delightful and encourages concentration.

Auditorium/Multipurpose Hall

A well equipped/air conditioned auditorium has been planned to seat 1000 spectators and has two balconies. The auditorium has a stage area of 50' X 40' for cultural activities. The auditorium has been planned with the latest state of the art sound and lighting systems available.

Services

Separate toilets for boys, girls, gents staff and ladies staff have been provided at two places on each floor arranged one above the other away from the classrooms. Drinking water coolers have also been provided on each floor.

Playgrounds

In the present method of teaching, more emphasis is laid on all round development of each child instead of emphasising only on the academic aspect only. The planning of the school building and the playground has been taken together to coordinate the need of study and play. The school is well equipped with a football ground, volleyball and basketball courts and facilities for other games.

Landscape

Good landscaping gives the child a harmonious equilibrium between organised and free physical and intellectual activities.
Educational aspect of observation of nature
The school lands1cape is rich and more varied. The organic forms of nature, the green of leaves and colours of flowers enhance the geometric design and the beauty of the school building. Trees and shrubs wisely planted filter out dust and sound too.

Materials

The school building must remain technically sound so as to play a part in the ethical and aesthetic formation of young minds. For this reason mere cheapness of design and material will not ply in the long run, as they will quickly give rise to considerable cost of maintenance. An effort has been made to use the best and maintenance free materials in the market. Exposed machine made bricks for walls, concrete roofing wood/aluminum for doors and windows, Red stones/Kotah Stone for flooring of classrooms, granite, marble, glaze tiles, granite tiles for labs have been extensively used.

Area details

Site area - 4 Acres
Covered area on Ground floor - 2384 Sq Mtrs
Covered area on First floor - 1655 Sq Mtrs
Covered area on Second floor - 1892 Sq Mtrs
Covered area on Third floor - 1890 Sq Mtrs
Covered area on Basement floor - 1356 Sq Mtrs

Accomodation Provided

Number of classrooms - 53
Administrative office
Principal's office
Home science lab
Physics lab
Chemistry lab
Biology lab
Computer lab
Library
Bank
Toilets for boys and girls
Multiactivity area (Basement)
Auditorium to seat 1000 spectators
Staff room - 2 No.
Senior teachers cabin 7 No
Sick room
Book store
Caretakers office
Stores
Gymnasium

Mr. Kuldip S. Saini
Cincinatti, USA.