NIIT CAMPUS NEEMRANA, RAJASTHAN

INTRODUCTION

Building a University Campus at Neemrana right at the edge of Thar Desert was a huge challenge.
With extreme desert climate, dusty winds, highly eroded landscape, no water supply, no sewerage
system and no infrastructure to support, the 100 acre site sits next to a hillock on the foothills of
Aravali midway between Delhi and Jaipur. The design brief was to have a university with world
class facilities offering undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes in different
disciplines.

A model showing the west side view of the site

The design of the University campus in Neemrana, Rajasthan is an attempt to the goal of sustainable
development. .

DESIGN OBJECTIVE

To use available resources to create a comfortable, healthy and interactive educational campus.
To address off site and on site environmental issues and develop a prototype for future
developments in the region.
To apply the concept of environmental and economic sustainability as the major determinants for
design.
It is also a study of how buildings need to be designed in a hot and dry region.

Traditional Rajasthan architecture is characterized by compact high density planning, enclosing open
space within buildings, massive construction, small openings, water conservation, shaded outdoor
spaces, varied visual elements and a strong architectural vocabulary. Though these principles made it
possible for people to survive in the desert, not all of these concepts are relevant today. The design
of the University at Neemrana incorporates the basic planning concepts without the usual trappings
of traditional architectural expression and uses them in a modern context with new technology.
View while entering the campus

THE SITE: The 75 acre site is halfway between Delhi and Jaipur about 1.5 kms off NH-8. It is a
dry, deeply eroded barren wasteland, not used for agriculture. Building on this degraded land
provides an opportunity to bring the site and the neighboring hill under a vegetative cover, thus
reclaiming it.

Since the site is more than 100 km from Delhi and Jaipur, the campus is planned to be fully
residential. The built-up area of the campus is 3, 00,000 sqm. It houses about 5000 students and 500
staff families. In later years when surrounding areas get more residential buildings, the University
plans to enroll 2500 day scholars. The University runs degree courses for undergraduates,
postgraduates and research programmes. Water scarcity, lack of vegetative cover, intense heat and
dust are some of the issues at the site. But adjacent to the site is a hilly outcrop that provides a
dramatic backdrop and a great natural resource.

A WALKING-IN-SHADE CAMPUS: Like a traditional desert settlements, the University

campus has been planned as a very dense campus where buildings will help each other survive in the
otherwise hostile environment. The high density makes it possible to have a walking campus free of
private motor vehicles. The Campus is designed to be fully residential being conscious of the huge
amount of energy spent in commuting either from Delhi or Jaipur. It will be a Car-free campus
which will run buses for students and teachers at a later date if required. Visitors will park their
vehicles in a common parking facility near the entrance. This way, it will not only be sustainable, but
will also foster a safer, healthier and active community life on the campus.

A shaded pedestrian spine will link all the major buildings and only emergency and public service
vehicles will have access to internal roads of the campus. The pedestrian spine has been conceived
as a bazaar connecting various parts of the campus and designed to be full of activity at all hours. All
public places will be located on the spine.
Cooling System in Academic Buildings

WATER CONSERVATION: Rajasthan has a tradition of conserving and using water. All
settlements in Rajasthan have magnificent water structures like lakes, stepwells and baolis to collect
rainwater for use throughout the year. Likewise, conservation of water is an underlying design theme
in the University. The hydrological survey showed that rainwater from the hills comes to the site
through the natural water courses. These existing slopes and water courses on site have been
maintained and are converted into green belts where rainwater from the hills will flow and recharge
ground water. When dry, these spaces will be used for outdoor activities. The available ground water
has been taken as the basis of determining the carrying capacity of the site. Furthermore, the
University will promote water conservation amongst the population on site, treat and reuse its waste
water and thus draw no more than the annual recharge.
Water saving thermal-conditioning system and low-flow toilet fixtures shall be used. Treated water
from STP will be utilized for toilet flushing and landscaping reducing the requirement of fresh water
to about half. The bio-technology department of the University has already started a project of
greening the hillside beyond the site boundary. Native plant species that require little water shall be
used. It is a move away from a resource consuming beautiful landscape to a more contextual
landscape that the site can support.
North Side Elevation

PHASING AND ZONING: Development and expansion will happen over a long period as the
university grows and hence phasing of the project has acquired a new meaning. The linear pattern of
site planning allows a small initial nucleus of academic buildings, staff residences and hostels to
grow as required. The plan is like a spring roll in which all sections contain all flavors. The plan will
allow continuous expansion with least disturbance to existing buildings and landscape. This
approach also allows us to build only what is required allowing for a need based expansion in future
without compromising on the coherence of the campus as a whole. The special zoning of functions
aims to bring them together and is very different from other university campuses where different
functions are segregated by large open spaces.

Day lighting in Academic Buildings

Master Plan

The Elevation

View of the amphitheatre and academic buildings

High level windows with external and internal light shelves bring light deep into the rooms

USE OF OPEN SPACE: In true Rajasthan tradition, the buildings of the University are designed
around courtyards. The enclosed outdoor spaces remain at an intermediate temperature. These are
acoustically separated from indoor space which makes it possible to use them independently. Instead
of a grand entrance to the University Buildings, there is a system of interconnected courts that in
Rajasthani tradition, serve as entrance courts.

Entry to academic and Hostel Buildings from Pedestrian spine

BUILDING DESIGN:
All buildings are oriented in north-south direction with minimal exposure on the west side.
Use of glass on the exterior is restricted and sun shading designed to let in the light keeping the
heat out.
Buildings are usable from outside and detailed to avoid thermal bridges.
They are designed to be comfortably cool and dust free without conventional air-conditioning.
The buildings will be built with high percentage of recycled materials. Walls will be made of fly
ash bricks and finished with local stone chips.

AIR AND DUST CONTROL: Traditionally, University buildings have been non air-conditioned.
This situation has been challenged in recent times with the advent of computers. Vast numbers of
individual buildings requiring computers have been retrofitted with inefficient window and split air
conditioning units. The trend has slowly proliferated into laboratories, administrative areas, faculty
rooms and even classrooms and hostels. Today one can see the unsightly air conditioning units all
over University buildings. In these places where the ambient dust levels are high, non air
conditioned Universities have to employ an army of cleaners. These issues called for an economical
and sustainable way of cooling and dust control. The solution lay in supplying treated fresh air to all
rooms through a system of masonry ducts.

The air is cooled by passing it through underground tunnels, humidifying or dehumidifying it and
removing dust through an ionization process. The air cooling system is coupled with self regulating
displacement ventilation. The system will work with 100 % fresh air.

DAYLIGHTING: The academic buildings are mainly day lit and artificial lighting is used only
when daylight is not available. The building section is designed to have deeper rooms on the south
side and shallower on the north side. High level windows with external and internal light shelves
improve the distribution of light in the deep laboratories on the south side. View windows with
external shading have been provided at eye level. To provide lighting for small rooms at the top
floor, small skylights have been provided. The passages are also lit through skylights. Those parts of
the buildings that cannot get daylight directly, will have efficient artificial lights powered by Solar
Photo Voltaic (SPV) energy. The grid interactive SPV system will not use batteries. The idea is to
use solar energy when it is available and not when one has to use artificial light in any case. The
total energy consumption for environmental control (lighting and air conditioning) will be limited to
about 25 kwh per annum per sqm of built space.

CONCLUSION: In the era of abundance where everyone wants more of everything, the key to
future lies in doing with less. This University design is an attempt in that direction utilizing the
resources in an efficient way to create a built environment that uses less land, less building, less
water, less private motorized vehicles and less energy.

References:

http://naredco.in/pdfs/Vinod-Gupta.pdf

http://www.space-design.com/Upload/PR0021.pdf

http://www.mnre.gov.in/akshayurja/akshayurja-april-2011/Building%20a%20green%20campus.pdf

http://nma-design.com/green-school/index_htm_files/8%20Vinod%20Gupta%20-%20NIIT%20Campus.pdf