AIKYA, Bangalore

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Typically a commercial complex, AIKYA Bangalore is conceived as a generic glass box or clad with materials like ACP. The consequent result of such surface articulation results in the clichéd result that we mostly see around us. When we set out to conceive the project, which was situated on a tight site measuring 60’ x 40’, the idea was to conceive an envelope that rose above the glass box while it established a new identity and visual experience.

We understood the importance of the glass façade to enable the successful functioning of a retail facility with high visibility. We set out on a process of distorting the glass box with a solid edge around it. We further conceived the transparent edge as a void in a solid as opposed to a two-dimensional transparent edge. The object was further articulated as a chiseled object which is multi-faceted. A staircase connecting ground to the first level was further fused with the faceted object. The crystalline form was realised using Ferro concrete whose end result was an animated box, frozen while evolving.

Functionally, the ground was set free for parking and the building hovers above. A staircase and lift core connect all the three floors of the commercial complex and the penthouse above. Keeping the faceted feel of the outside consistent with the inside, a figural void is carved out as an atrium that spatially connects the floors of the commercial complex. The inner surface of the faceted box is given a different effect by using a laser cut compressed fiber cement board. The penthouse above is programmatically detached from the commercial establishment below.

QUICK FACTS:
Project: AIKYA Bangalore
Location: Jayanagar, Bangalore, India
Architects: Cadence
Principal Architects: Narendra Pirgal, Smaran Mallesh, Vikram Rajashekar
Project Team: Smaran Mallesh, Narendra Pirgal, Vikram Rajashekar
Completion Date: April 2011
Photographer: Claire Arni
Materials: Reinforced Cement Concrete, Concrete Block Work, Ferro Cement and Glass for façade
Website: www. cadencearchitects.com

Vikram Rajashekhar

Co-founder & Principal Architect

As a co-founder/ Principal Architect of Cadence Architects, Vikram Rajashekhar brings technological insight and domain expertise into the architectural and interior design services at Cadence Architects. Directing all stages of design and construction processes across diverse project types and scales, he has been responsible for many award-winning, much accoladed projects at the Cadence studio. Adopting an inimitable approach to address functionality, innovation, while retaining the emotional aspect of the unique Cadence ethos, Vikram enables a distinctive design expression, that is contemporary yet rooted in context. Cadence started as a collaborative architectural practice by architects Narendra Pirgal, Vikram Rajashekhar and Smaran Mallesh in the year 2005. Having studied in the same school of architecture, they shared common design philosophy and vision. Driven by the intent to conceive neoteric environments, create affective spaces, and staging lifestyles, architecture at the Cadence Studio strives to spawn varied emotional responses and stage myriad lifestyles. In a candid interview, Ar. Vikram Rajashekhar spoke about his firm Cadence Architects, their recent projects, their perspective on innovative façade and fenestration designs, and on the use of innovative materials for façades and fenestration in order to achieve energy-efficient and sustainable buildings. Here is the excerpt from the interview.