QRST - The Vaulted School
A school is built just minutes away from Dhorkin Tanda, a hamlet in Maharashtra inhabited by sugarcane-cutting labor near Paithan, Aurangabad. The district had one school accommodating a total of 30 students, which was dilapidated over time. What the old structure lacked, the new structure had it hacked: ample lighting and ventilation achieved with the help of vaulted roofs, 140 sq ft stand-alone sanitation facility, a kitchen area of 95 sq ft for mid-day meals, and an overall conducive environment for knowledge to reside in and foster with the ‘play and learn’ ideology. The vaulted school is designed to evoke and satisfy the curiosities children are capable of, and answers them in the most natural way possible: the breeze on their faces that flows because of the Venturi effect, the green buffer zones that cut off the UV radiations, and the importance of planting native flora and fauna in and around the school.
The planning provides ample space for one of the most essential needs of a school—the playground, tucked on one side of the site. The overall site of 3000 sq ft offers a 420 sq ft classroom equipped with storage shelves for books and educational toys, a 95 sq ft staff room for the teachers, designed with storage units for examination papers and academic journals, and lastly, 205 sq ft multi-purpose hall which doubles up as an additional classroom or a dining hall if and when need be. All these spaces are carefully designed in the 1110 sq ft built-up area the premise offers. The classroom’s orientation responds evidently to the breeze pattern and sun path. Considering the soil conditions present, a pile foundation is constructed to strengthen the substructure on which the load-bearing brick walls find their ground. The process is furthered with the vaulted metal sheet roof that minimizes the heavy structural cost and makes the form structurally rigid with minimal support.
As one looks deeper into the shape of the structure and the design of the classrooms, the semi-circular volumes serve as noise buffers to the disturbances caused by vehicles passing by on the adjacent side of the road. A free path for ventilation and light is created by the high ceilings, which on the outer side are made up of non-reflective roofing material to reduce heat gain. Each and every wall is painted with pieces of information the child will imbibe even while sitting idly; one of the prominent being a depiction of The Big Dipper on the classroom’s low-height ceilings which is a craft intervention made by inserting an acrylic rod within the slab. Waste stone pieces are used for flooring, and are painted with mathematical learnings and traditional floor games to utilise the flooring area at its best. Moreover, the playground, just like the classroom, is a product of psychologically backed design thinking, subtly introducing the concept of an amphitheater to its tiny users. The steps under the overhang double up as seats for when the school is to conduct a recreational activity that requires staging and audience areas. The superstructure revolves around recycled timber, cycle rim, plastic bottles, and eco-bricks as infill materials to bridge the gap between technicalities and aesthetics.
The project was completed over a period of 6 months under a budget of ₹25,00,000, with a vision to build a sustainable and eco-friendly school, which can become an example for other villages. While following the precept of maximizing the use with minimal available resources, it empowers the community through involvement of local volunteers in a construction that advocates a sustainable design concept in a remote and environmentally fragile location. The school utilizes local materials and construction techniques to derive a role model structure that not only reduces the dependency on conventional water and electricity sources in the village through innovative design but also evolves from a strong set of noble parameters—of climate responsiveness, resource availability, affordable building, and constructional feasibility. Lastly, while taking care of all needs and inclusions, the structure does not fail to accommodate physically disabled students, making it a design worth taking ahead.
