Student’s Hostel / Studioboxx

Architects: Studioboxx
Area: 3,100 m²
Year: 2020
Manufacturers: Anchor by Panasonic, Greenlam, Jaquar, Polycab, Ultratech
Landscape Architect: Prajakta Pathak Chakravarty
Structural Design: Raipure & Associates
Team Lead: Anand Katgaonkar
Design: Aditi Bankar
Design & Drawings: Vivek Kodoor, Ruchira Palav
Drawings: Abhishek Kodoor, Rekha Malusare
Documentation: Girish Gondhali, Riya Patil
Illustrations: Riya Patil, Shamil Mirkar, Swapnil Pitale
Project Management: Rahul Patil, Chetan Devadiga
Electrical Consultant: Avinash Raj
Plumbing Consultant: Subodh Gangan
City: Nagpur
Country: India

A private educational institution in Butibori, Nagpur, required an extension to its campus to cater to its expanding needs. This project by Studioboxx entailed adding a cafeteria and extra rooms while integrating the old with the new through strategic placement and design. The design focused on blending modern requirements with the natural setting, emphasizing security, connectivity, and sustainability. The use of local materials and innovative structural solutions highlighted the commitment to environmental considerations and future scalability.

A school campus in Butibori, an industrial area near Nagpur, has been expanded to include new facilities surrounded by hostels for girls and boys. The extension involved renovating an old hostel, originally built in the 1970s for industrial staff and later modified for schoolboys. This building was a modest two-floor, L-shaped structure, comprised of three wings with independent staircases but no linking corridors.

The project’s goal was to add a cafeteria and more rooms for the institution, which serves students from rural areas around Nagpur. These students, starting at the age of six, receive vocational and skill-based education, necessitating stringent security measures. The presence of mature trees posed both a challenge and an opportunity in designing the expansion’s footprint.

The new structure is situated away from the existing hostel, connected by bridges to the old hostel’s staircases. This arrangement forms several courtyards linked by the bridges. A corridor on the upper floor connects the dormitories and faces these courtyards, while a balcony on the opposite side overlooks the trees. This setup not only serves practical purposes like clothes drying but also helps buffer the dormitories from summer heat through evaporative cooling ducts integrated into the design.

A separate study center and a meditation temple with a water feature offer spaces for quiet and reflection, emphasizing tranquility within the campus. The design incorporates simple and modular structural elements to facilitate future vertical expansion. Materials like form-finished concrete and local bricks provide a sustainable and aesthetic foundation, enhancing the building’s thermal efficiency through techniques like rat trap bond masonry.

Natural stones such as Kota, Shahbaz, and Kadapa are used throughout for flooring and creating furniture, which combines sleeping, storage, and study spaces to optimize room usability. This approach to dormitory design conserves space for student interaction, crucial for a residential educational facility.