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Vir.mueller architects’ Healthy Planet School in Noida, a densely populated suburb of New Delhi, is a complex, multi-faceted response by its designers not only to the surrounding urban context but also to the social and economic scenario of modern-day India.
The chaotic energy, pollution and environmental degradation of this densely populated megalopolis were the backdrop for the school, an institution and social space unequivocally associated with concepts of protection, nurturing, and safety. Hence the idea of a cocoon-like building detached from the surrounding city offering its 200 young pupils a refuge shielded from the outside as they play and learn.
Built on a trapeze-shaped plot, the school has two above- and one below-grade levels. The compact linear outer façades contrast with an unexpectedly articulated interior. On crossing the threshold – a recessed entrance between two oblique brick walls ushering people in from outside – the interior opens out onto an inner courtyard whose fluid configuration provides a sweeping view at first glance of all the environments giving on the court.
Starting on the below-grade floor, the inner courtyard connects directly with the adjacent library, art and music classrooms designed for its very young occupants. At the top of the building, the court is closed by a white tensile structure and glass side walls that shield the interiors from adverse weather and direct sunlight. The series of oculi in this tented structure allows daylight to penetrate into the courtyard, creating a changing kaleidoscope of patterned light as the sun moves through the day and the seasons change.
Ambitiously designed to replicate – on a smaller scale – the effect of the interior of Rome’s Pantheon, the oculi succeed in creating a connection between the closed, unchanging space of the school court with the ever-changing sky and shifting sun above, inducing an...
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