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Administrative Building for Auroville Papers

This is a project by Castelino & Marchese Architects and it is located at Auroville, Puducherry, India. Project's program: Office building. There are eighteen images for Administrative Building for Auroville Papers.

: © Pino Marchese

Project details

Project name: Administrative Building for Auroville Papers
Location: Auroville, Puducherry, India
Program: Office building
Area: Project Area: 125 m2
Year: Completion: December 2006
More details: Cost: INR 1,500,000
Project by: Castelino & Marchese Architects
Others: Local Construction: Giorgio Luciani-Parasuraman

Project images

Designer's statement

A new building within an existing campus which principally housed the production unit of Auroville Papers that manufactures handmade paper & related products. Originally the designers & administrative staff operated out of the chaos of the production unit & the main brief for this new administrative building was to provide a tranquil, focused, uncluttered space to them.

The new building has been designed in a very minimalistic and rationalistic manner amply lit by skylights in every space so that artificial lighting is never used in the daytime.

To further add to the zen atmosphere, the front windows start from the floor level with miniature dry pebble & rock garden exactly at the window level.

The entrance is marked by a perforated skin wall that partially encloses the passageway & a translucent polycarbonate roofing that provides the transition & diffuses the light before one enters the reception area.

The landscaping around is also simplistically done in the same line as the building itself using leftover building material and recycling them into the landscape thus saving transportation costs of carting the debris away.