SDA 2022 Entries

• Commercial Building - Buildings that are used for commercial purposes, and include retail, hospitality, workplaces, factories and warehouses and buildings where commercial services are provided. At least 50 percent of the buildings’ floor space will be used for commercial activities. 
• Light + Surface - The innovative use of light and the way it is inextricably linked to surfaces, whether it’s the effect the light has on the surrounding surfaces or the materials used to create the light.  

The architecture and design of Sangini House explores ways in which it can respond to the context and spirit of the heritage in which it stands. This office building for the Sangini group characterizes new strategies for a flexible, column-free office space that creates a new urban venture in the city’s dense business district.
Established in 1984, the Sangini group is a leading construction firm delivering technical excellence in building design. The site for their new office building is located at the Canal Road. The scheme is envisioned as an upcoming real-estate epicentre providing a revived infrastructure and a healthy lifestyle for its inhabitants, starting from their workplace, the Sangini House.
The project was completed on 30 January 2019.

Guided by the building’s unusual design, distinctive profile and an appropriate orientation adopted through sun path analysis, the environmental strategy exploits various factors to enable programmatic and functional success. The stone skin with three dimensional perforations envelopes the core and provides shade from the harsh sunlight of the south and west throughout the day. The skin wraps around on the fifth and sixth floor to unify the structure and create an inviting and invigorating volume of the five floor high entrance. The entrance is where the private world of the tower meets the public realm and this soaring light filled space tones down the scale, making it look proportionate to the floor plate. The voluptuous space of the eight storeyed structure, transforms visibly into a five storied structure, with a more warmer, approachable and composed space thereby justifying the use of the word ‘House ‘and departing from the overtly used word ‘corporate’.
The interiors of Sangini House echo the character of the architectural design and intent of the building. Staying true to spirit of heritage and context, the materials and finishes are kept raw and natural – devoid of any cosmetic layering. Most of the ceilings and walls are done in exposed concrete, offering an industrial feel to the spaces inside. A rather distinctively designed building, Sangini House is a new-age epitome of urban culture and environmental sensibility.

From the entrance, the visitor is directed along the sweeping skin into a double height atrium which opens into a court. Daylight is drawn into the various office levels and down through the building via the atrium. The inclusion of ample daylight ensures a clarified and celebrated movement throughout the building, that provides a physical and psychological balance to the employees.
Other active means of energy systems in the building include rain water harvesting and drip irrigation systems which are used to optimize water consumption, radiant floors and ventilation systems that cater to the cooling needs. Together with the highly efficient service equipments and systems in the building along with the facade design that is integral to the energy strategy, the building aims to achieve a Platinum green rating.

An irregular site with mandatory setbacks, offered the opportunity of a triangular footprint. Conceptualising the design as a sculptural manifestation, whose design ideas were developed as a work of art that would challenge the archetypal structural systems. The design intent was to create a dynamic built volume that would encourage the visitor to come into the space and the building. As a result, cantilevered floor plates that defy the conventional grid structure with post-tensioned sweeping floors have been cast along with exposed concrete walls that are structural in nature.
The nature of the family business and the resultant hierarchy plays a crucial role in spatial planning and movement, in order to determine the connections and vertical segregation. Extending the home into the workspace, a personal, sensitive and conscious experience is created within the building through the hierarchy of spaces and their interconnectivity. A small floor plate results in its segregation from the vertical core that comprises two lifts and a staircase.

The Sangini House stands as a testament to the brand’s values, designed in response to context, heritage and functionality. A rather distinctively designed building, it is a new-age epitome of urban culture and environmental sensibility.