Name of the project: ECOVE – Centre of Vocational Empowerment
Location: Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India
Size of the plot: 7335 sq. mts
Principal architects/designers of the firm: Seema Puri & Zarir Mullan
Design Team: Datta Nishandar, Paritosh Chawan, Baljit Singh
Design firm: SEZA
Photographer: Dinesh Mehta
For SEZA Architects & Interiors, designing the ECOVE – Centre of Vocational Empowerment in Aurangabad involved a lot more than the creation of a space. Meant to provide local villagers with opportunities for training in vocations and skills as varied as sewing, computers, dye making, electrical courses and basic English, the centre also had the potential to double as an empowering space for social interaction and improved community life. Home to the historic Ajanta and Ellora cave complexes, and marked by scorching heat and arid topography during summers, Aurangabad presented its own unique context, challenges and requirements to the firm.
In response, architect Seema Puri of SEZA sought to design a contemporary structure that is grounded with vernacular architectural elements and local materiality but capable of offering an elevated learning and social experience for the students. Puri says, “our goal was to create a ground floor structure, porous to the street and sky, biophilic in nature responding to its unique program and context, with a language of luminosity, and connection.” Built using local labour during the COVID-19 pandemic – thereby also creating local employment – the centre is designed to ensure optimal versatile spaces that are fluid or interconnected, ample ventilation and daylight, as well as natural greenery.
At the core of the space is an open courtyard, which the administration area at the entrance opens out to. “This wide and grassy space seeks to provide respite from the scorching and arid exteriors of the facility, and extends a cooling effect towards the whole space,” says Puri.
Taking cues from the ancient cave complexes, classrooms, technical rooms, the canteen and auditorium are designed as individual blocks that are arranged around the courtyard, and interconnected by small courts and a series of corridors.
Framing the central courtyard, these corridors are punctuated by angular brick jaali or lattice screens. Puri adds, “The perforations on the screen cuts down on the intensity of heat and direct sunlight entering the corridors, providing a cooling effect while also ensuring ventilation – which are much needed considering the local temperature ranges between 40-45 degree celsius during summers.” The classrooms each feature windows on either side, ensuring cross ventilation as well as reducing dependency on artificial lighting.
Reinforcing its larger goal of encouraging social interaction, the centre has several smaller multipurpose spaces suited for leisure. Benches strategically placed overlooking the grassy courtyard allows for additional recreational spaces that maximise interaction – among students, as well as between students and nature. Additionally, the classrooms are staggered and this arrangement makes the corridor wider in some areas, creating more open spaces that are multifunctional and enable dignified social exchanges. “Creating more social interaction areas in the form of these spillover areas and open to sky courts was our endeavour so that the centre became a welcome break from their otherwise meagre existence,” Puri explains.
Besides the courtyard, the centre is dotted by several other green spaces and flanked by a large vegetable garden. The result is a dynamic mix of indoor and outdoor spaces, achieving a sense of harmony with the local environment.
“Materiality of the structure was determined by local availability, and reflects a larger biophilic theme,” says Puri. Made using natural materials, such as concrete, brick, black basalt and stone, the centre was built with an objective of reducing carbon footprint. Additionally, the roof of the structure houses solar panels which powers the lighting.
With this design language, SEZA’s goal for the vocational centre was to create a community centre, one that not only served as an enjoyable environment for learning, but also as a pleasant space for interaction and social affairs, encouraging connection and community. “At its best, public architecture can function as a tangible expression of human dignity and possibility, thoughtful and beautiful design can alter the social dynamics of a community,” Puri states.
Ground floor plan for ECOVE – Centre of Vocational Empowerment
Story by Sridevi Nambiar, photographs by Dinesh Mehta.
Image caption, harmoniously combine two usually distinct indulgences
The link between the two main areas, the one closest to the entryway with the bar counter and lounge and the one at the rear reserved for aesthetic treatments, is a decorative feature with a great scenic impact: a series of deep blue glass portals guides the gaze towards the beauty area, giving the space perspective depth and a theatrical feel. This liminal space also houses the boutique and the facial bar, functions that will cater for a passing public and have faster times than the more complex treatments, as well as delineating the perimeter of the two lounges. “The management of flows and technical spaces,” the architects tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.” cts tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.”The link between the two main areas, the one closest to the entryway with the bar counter and lounge and the one at the rear reserved for aesthetic treatments, is a decorative feature with a great scenic impact: a series of deep blue glass portals guides the gaze towards the beauty area, giving the space perspective depth and a theatrical feel. This liminal space also houses the boutique and the facial bar, functions that will cater for a passing public and have faster times than the more complex treatments, as well as delineating the perimeter of the two lounges. “The management of flows and technical spaces,” the architects tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.” cts tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.”
The link between the two main areas, the one closest to the entryway with the bar counter and lounge and the one at the rear reserved for aesthetic treatments, is a decorative feature with a great scenic impact: a series of deep blue glass portals guides the gaze towards the beauty area, giving the space perspective depth and a theatrical feel. This liminal space also houses the boutique and the facial bar, functions that will cater for a passing public and have faster times than the more complex treatments, as well as delineating the perimeter of the two lounges. “The management of flows and technical spaces,” the architects tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.” cts tell us, “was especially complex. The brief for both Ballard & Fant’s identities were quite specific and binding, so the phases of the choice of space and the layouts of the areas were the most challenging points in the whole project.”
Image caption, harmoniously combine two usually distinct indulgences
The choice of materials and finishes was in keeping with this chromatic landscape. “Through the moodboard we visualized the allure of the space,” explains Pennesi. “An interplay of alternations between more or less tactile surface textures, contrasting colors and opaque and translucent finishes that create intriguing peep-through effects.”
This led to the choice of stoneware tiles by Ceramica Sant’Agostino, which deck the floors and bar counter with their dense and uniform speckled pattern and bind together the different areas into which the space is divided, wth laminates from Arpa Industriale and Kaindl, used respectively for the support surfaces and the structures of the bespoke furnishings.
“We chose these materials for both aesthetic and functional reasons. Aesthetic because this type of semi-finished product has color ranges that enabled us to make choices consistent with the palette we created; and practical because they are wearproof materials and ensure easy sanitization. In particular, Fenix, a special laminate we used to coat the counter top, with a surface that has a non-porous outer layer, makes the material easy to clean and suitable for contact with food as well as fingerprint-proof and pleasant to the touch.”
Even the lighting was curated in detail, helping create a pleasant and richly detailed environment. Bellhop cordless table lamps designed by Barber & Osgerby for Flos, illuminate the tables with their discreet light. Suspended above the bar counter is a spectacular suspension composition created with a series of “leaves” in Diphy polycarbonate. Designed by Mirco Crosatto for Stilnovo, it was inspired by a fascinating Japanese plant, whose flowers turn as transparent as crystal in contact with water.
