BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER AT SOUTH CAMPUS,

DELHI UNIVERSITY

THESIS REPORT

DEMIS ROUSSOS BHARGAVA [9604]

GUIDE: MR. A.B. LALL

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

TOWARDS THE LIVING MACHINE

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Theoretical background
Architecture is space. The ways in which we define space and its surfaces
determines the relationship between the architectural object and its users. If
the surface of space is too chaotic, the experience of that space is detracted
from. On the other hand, with monotonous surface expression, there is no
experience worth the speaking of anyway. The task therefore is one of
balancing order and chaos in design – the result must be one of ordered
complexity.

Ordered complexity is a state of existence found at all levels of life – from

planetary weather patterns to the rhythms of the human heartbeat. The 20th
century has witnessed sweeping changes in the way in which we look at
nature that recognize this characteristic. Current theories displace the role of
man as a dispassionate observer of nature with science as his instrument, in
favor of the view that man is embedded within nature. Objectivity is dead:
every action man makes changes the world he lives in, and vice versa. As a
tangible product of man’s thoughts, architecture reflects these thoughts and
represents them in abstract and literal ways.

This study is a step forward in an exploration undertaken to develop a

personal architectural vocabulary based on these shifting worldviews. The
exploration is structured on a few basic tenets:
§ An analogical relationship between the architectural object and the
living organism
§ Parallels between the design process and natural processes
§ In abstract terms, the design revolves around the idea that the
macroverse – the larger universe outside of us – and the microverse –
the smaller universe within us – reside within each other. This
philosophy draws on Western science and Eastern religion expressed in
literal terms as the Dark Tower, a metaphor from literature that is a
physical axis that serves as the linchpin for all worlds.
§ In physical terms, the exploration is one of translating these abstract
ideas into pure architecture, through an understanding of architectural
elements and devices used throughout history.

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Evolution of the design method

These tenets have been arrived at and evolved through various exercises
carried out over the past two years:
Fourth Year Design Unit: Archaeological Museum at the Delhi Red Fort
Fifth Year Design Unit: Urban Redevelopment at Kashmere Gate
Fourth Year Structures: Film on Nature and Structure
Dissertation on the Information Field of Architectural Composition

Each of these exercises has contributed towards developing the design

method used and further refined in the course of the Thesis Project. These
projects will therefore be discussed briefly as a prelude to the thesis
exploration.

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

FOURTH YEAR
Design Project: Museum at the Delhi Red Fort

Design Program
Museum showcasing Mughal artifacts with a
gathering place, cafeteria and sound room

Niche: The Existing System

The design is based on the following features –
Existing pattern of pavilions along the fort wall
The fort wall as a linear edge between the
internal and external landscapes
Strong axial linkages through the fort linking
pavilions with the horizon
Formal Mughal Gardens of Paradise and the
revival of the Nehar-i-Behisht

The Dark Tower

Pavilions along the fort wall were metaphorically
linked with an axis of ‘all possible worlds’ on the
horizon. Linking the new museum in a similar
fashion with the horizon / Yamuna river makes
it part of the existing system

Abstraction
Connection between the small universe of the
Fort with the larger universe: internal ordered
landscape of the Mughal Garden with the
chaotic landscape of the Outside

Architectural Expression
Axial linkages with the horizon defined by
patterns of light and shade produced by
freestanding planes

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Interior Landscapes
Patterns of light and shade define the interior landscape through freestanding planes

The Fort Wall

‘Pavilions’ designed along the fort wall relate in different ways to it, without
disturbing its spatial integrity. The wall as an edge between the inside of the fort and
the maidan below is ‘broken’ through various techniques…
The Cafeteria

… cutting into the soil a t the interface

Open Air Gathering Space

… discharging the Nehar-I-Behisht over the wall

The Sound Room

… projecting the slab edge over the wall

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

FIFTH YEAR
Design Project: Urban Redevelopment at Kashmere Gate, Delhi

The project dealt with redensification and allocation of new functions in light of the
increased volume of traffic anticipated as a result of the construction of the MRTS
Station near the ISBT. Using the old DCE Campus, the proposal involved using
existing buildings and landmarks such as the Dara Shikoh Museum as fixes for the
conception of the design. Two parallel paths of differing characters move pedestrians
towards the gravitational center of the composition, where city level functions such
as exhibition halls, a restaurant complex and office blocks are integrated with the
existing museum. The natural slope of the site is used to create a small lake to store
rainwater, from which the functions radiate outwards.

Two Paths

Equal and opposite forces: The Paths Couple

The two paths exhibit contrasting

characteristics. While one defines a strong axial
link between the Dara Shikoh Museum and the
existing auditorium, the other meanders
through a streetscape originating with the
existing hostels. Both end at the lake, exploding
outwards in a sculpture that defines the Center.

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Contrasting the Old and the New The Dara Shikoh Museum sits in a landscape
redefined by the Center, alongside circulation towers that serve as reference points
and sign boards.

Building Expression here is one of stark planes defining edges, structural systems
and circulation elements. Materiality of the skin is explored to a greater extent.

Landscape is defined through the freestanding fins that scythe through it

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Computer Generated Study of Structural Systems and Nature

Title: The Nature of Structure

Nature has long served as an exemplar for structural

innovations that have enriched architecture, and
enabled us to push building systems to new limits.
This 17-minute film, prepared for the Fourth Year
Structures Unit, looks at structural systems
throughout history that either have parallels in
nature, or are derived from natural systems.

Tensile
Bat’s wing
Experimental aircraft

Bernoulli’s Principle
Birds
Jet Engine Aircraft

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Compressive
Eroded Rock Arch
Bridge

Tensile Wires
Spider’s Web
Suspension Bridge

Cantilevers
Skeletal System
Suspension Bridge

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Buttressing
Termite Hill
Gothic Cathedral

Forces
Muscles and ligaments
in alternating tension
and compression

Pneumatic
Portuguese Man of War
Hot Air Balloon

Information on physical structure, and knowledge of life processes, can be adapted to

architecture through a design method that fragments the distinction between
‘observed’ nature and ‘observing’ science. The skin of architectural composition
finally reflects these processes. The information presented by this skin to observers
determines whether they are enfolded by the system as users, or remain passive
outsiders. To become part of the system, the users must experience the system
through its beauty. The organization of information presented by the skin is therefore
a crucial facet of the system.

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Dissertation on the Information Field of Architectural Composition

Throughout history, space – especially urban space – has interacted with its users
through the information presented by its surface elements. Large quanta of
information are organized and presented in a coherent manner through these
elements. Understanding their functions can enhance the systems being explored by
integrating the analogical framework with pure architecture. The system skin then
uses the fractalizing nature of these elements – where surface geometry increases
surface area available through invisible fractional dimensions – to maximize the
information content of the skin.
Amphitheaters
The ancient Greek theatre is the archetypal
open-air concave structure, where the
curvature gives a very precise acoustic and
visual focus. Medieval plazas use concavity to
great effect.

Colonnades
Regularly spaced columns create a partial
enclosure. A colonnade has many more normal
contact points than a continuous flat wall, and
is thus a more effective boundary for space.

Courtyards
Vernacular domestic architecture employs the
open courtyard as the largest living space. Its
boundaries carefully direct information inwards.
The same pattern applies to Medieval Islamic
Madrasas, Caravansaries and Christian Cloisters

Vertical facets and flutes

To obtain visual and acoustic information
looking horizontally, a surface must reflect in a
variety of horizontal angles. A structure is
subdivided into vertical facets - thin vertical
strips, or flutes - that offer many different
angles of reflection.

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Evolution of the Design Method: Preceding Works

Arches
Arches focus surface information. Arcades on
the street level serve the same purpose for an
approaching pedestrian.

Roof edges
With the exception of those in desert climates,
buildings have historically had protruding roof
edges or cornices. Without this edge, the
connection of an observer to the building's
height is lost. Roof edges define the interface
between the building and the sky, and
terminate the scaling hierarchy at the level
desired by the architect.

Roof corners
Overhanging eaves protruding towards the
viewer are visually ambiguous, and possibly
threatening, whereas corners that point up
present surface information from the underside
to an approaching person. This extends the
effective signal to a region outside the building.

Horizontal facets and flutes above eye

level
In order to scatter light and sound downwards
towards an observer, a surface has to reflect in
a narrow range of angles in the vertical plane.
Horizontal strips or flutes should be oriented at
a variety of downward angles. The general
pattern leads to features that present vertical
lines around eye level and horizontal lines
above eye level.

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Synopsis
The exercises described can be summarized as:
Development of strategies to organize site level responses
De velopment of architectural vocabulary that maximizes surface information while
expressing the structure or skeleton behind the skin
Integrating landscape as a part of the process of space creation rather than as an
external add on

Drawing from these proje cts, the design process as a metaphorical adaptation of
natural processes is as follows:
§ Conception of the built organism is determined initially by the dictates of the
environment for which it is being designed, namely site conditions such as
topography, neighboring buildings at a local level, and its city level location
and significance.
This stage involves accumulation and initial translation of information that will
code the built form.
§ Compositional mutation of the body initially arrived at driven by functional
and spatial requirements
§ Generation of the building skin as an expression of its skeleton and life
systems
§ Defining the buildings relationship with its ecological niche and fellow
occupants
§ Maximizing the information presented to observers through the use of pure
architectural elements used throughout history to create meaningful urban
space

Abstract notions of philosophy and analogy thus get translated into pure architectural
form.

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

The Thesis
The project undertaken is a Biotechnology Center for the Delhi University South
Campus. Located on the Delhi Ridge, the resultant design responds to topographical
features such as rock formations and quarries by integrating them with appropriate
functions. The existing campus buildings also play the ir part in defining the complex.
The Biotechnology Center as a unique object in space then derives its identity from
the need to establish a particular identity for itself. Defining a place for an institution
situated within the quiet environs of the Delhi Ridge involves acknowledging the
requirements for an introverted atmosphere conducive to research, and successfully
balancing these needs by the need to attract visitors from outside the hallow
precincts of academia. The opposing characteristics beg the formation of a dynamic
couple: distillations of the forces of physics in a biological institute the built form. As
a result, the initial requirements for research laboratories have been supplemented
by activities that address a wider audience, such as a Visitors’ Center that functions
as an interactive museum, and a campus level cafeteria.

Analogies drawn between architecture and natural organisms are tempered by the
fact that buildings are spatial while the natural organisms they use as an exemplar
are inherently non spatial. The design requirements of a biotechnological institute
encourage the exploration of the building as a living machine, selected to actively
relate to its environment in a manner that redefines the subject - object relationship
between the scientist and nature in favor of a more modulated object - object
relationship. This is achieved through a fragmentation of the design process into the
following stages:

Niche: Understanding the site level forces

Creation: Preliminary information coding the aggregated design
Body: Fragmentation of the whole into parts based on required functions and spaces
Skin: Expression of structural and support systems, directed by site level forces
Users: Increasing surface information through architectural elements in the
horizontal and vertical planes

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

AREA STATEMENT
LABORATORIES [12 NOS.] 576
STORES 156
LECTURE HALL 300
LECTURE HALL LOBBY 070
CANTEEN 150
FREEZERS AND DISTILLATION UNITS 050
LIBRARY 300
ADMINISTRATION 125
VISITORS’ CENTRE 200
GREENHOUSES 400
+ SERVICE AREAS 600
2927
+ CIRCULATION AND WALLS @20% 0585

TOTAL 3512
≅ 3500
FLOOR AREA ALLOWED [0.8 X 8725] 6980
SURPLUS 3480

GROUND COVERAGE
ADMINISTRATION BLOCK 250
LABORATORY BLOCK 300
SERVICE AREA 200
STORAGE 045
CANTEEN 090
LECTURE HALL 300
LIBRARY 175
VISITORS’ CENTRE 250
BIOSPHERE 400

TOTAL 2010
PERMISSIBLE GROUND COVERAGE 2180
SURPLUS 170

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Niche

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 1. Site
2. Life science building
3. Computer science building
4. Director’s office
5. Student’s centre
6. Auditorium
7. Electronic science building
8. Arts faculty
9. Arts faculty
10. Jain Management Centre
11. Financial management centre
12. Benito Juarez Marg
13. Site access road
14. Cul-de-sac
15. Campus parking
16. Campus entrance

CAMPUS MAP

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Creation And Body

1. The existing campus buildings serve as reference points for fixing the whole
2. The life science building is used as a template for the new building
3. The building form mutates in response to the axial forces exerted by other
buildings
4. The whole is sequentially fragmented into parts based on functions and
movement
5. Fins radiating out from the court extend into and redefine the existing
landscape
6. Each part within and without the whole establish increased connections with
the niche

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Skin

The composition generated serves as a template for further

fragmentation vis-à-vis ordering of the facade. Based on
the life science building opposite the site, the elevation
should be strictly ordered as per:
Horizontal bands articulating shades
Vertical bands articulating structural piers
Raw expression of building materials - exposed concrete
and random rubble

Following from disaggregation of the whole into its parts, this template for the
building expression is sequentially broken down into three systems of elevational
ordering S [1], S [2] and S [3] respectively, one for each face presented to the
person outside the composition. Fragmentation of the whole into the three
elevational ordering systems is based on the following parameters:
Increasing information content through elements in the horizontal and vertical planes
Destabilization of the structural grid as an ordering system of the elevation
Changing material surfaces from a refined state to raw expressionism
Adapting the changing systems within the predefined horizontal and vertical limits
Reinterpretation of rigid vertical and horizontal articulation of the building structure

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

 'Tripartition schema organizes the inside and outside of
an arrangement, the border elements, and the
enclosed elements.' - Paul Allan Johnson
The three elevational systems explore the use of a
disintegrating facade ordering system, based on
changing viewpoints from the campus road.

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Users

Entrance to quarry greenhouse Entrance to cafeteria

The linear path between the two areas defines a rigid edge crossed over by the fins
that span the quarry.
Elements used / reinterpreted: Roof edges Roof corners Arches

Visitors’ Center and Greenhouse inside the quarry

Use of site topography
Elements used / reinterpreted: Arches Roof edges Courtyards

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Central courtyard
Unification of different skin ordering systems
Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Horizontal facets Vertical flutes
Courtyards Roof edges

View towards greenhouse

Designed and ‘natural’ landscapes
Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Arches Vertical flutes
Courtyards Roof edges

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009

Laboratory Skin
Fragmented expression of materials within a rigid framework
Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Vertical flutes Courtyards
Roof edges

View from Lecture Hall ramp

The Materiality of Space
Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Arches Vertical flutes
Courtyards Roof edges

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The Roof Garden
Efficient usage of resources and space
Elements used / reinterpreted: Colonnades Roof corners Vertical flutes
Courtyards Roof edges

A Fragmented Conclusion

As a living machine, the architectural object must possess systemic, technical and
aesthetic excellence.

‘All that you fashion, all that you make,

All that you build, all that you break,
All that you measure, all that you feel,
All this you can leave behind...’

Copyright Demis Roussos Bhargava 2009