INSTITUTE OF PLASMA RESERACH

• Typology Commercial, Institutional
• Location Gandhinagar, Gujarat
• Area 44,000 sq.ft
• Year 1987, 1993, 2001, 2014

Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, India joined a select group of countries when Mrs. Indira Gandhi decided to launch the Plasma Physics Programme at Gandhinagar.

Christened ‘Aditya’ the experiment would attempt to recreate the temperature of a 100 million degrees centigrade, equivalent to the temperature at the core of the sun.

A strategic concept of design emerged in which local material was to be used and the element of the courtyard; chowk of aangan was to be the manor design feature. The first would affect the form of the building while the second would represent itself in the introverted nature of the complex.

The building encloses six major courts. The entry courtyard which is a dramatic water body and contains nine lakhs litres of water and 250 fountains is the radical contribution of air conditioning consultants who has designed this system as a departure from conventional cooling tower.

This water court is surrounded by public building – large wide corridors are more than mere connecting links, they are areas of interaction.

The more private parts of the building are four clusters of the scientist’s office-eight offices forms a cluster, each around a central court. The four courtyards are also interconnected with walkways.

The courts become an extension of the office, a hire of activity, where the building and its users can feel one with nature.