India habitat centre observations by architect student

INDIAN HABITAT CENTER -SHAILJA KUMARI
B.arch 5th yr
Apeejay Institute of Technology,School of Architecture and Planning
Greater Noida-U.P.
A city within a city…..

INDIA HABITAT CENTER
•Inspired by rock painting from Bhimbetka
in Madhya Pradesh.
• Represents the anthropomorphic personification of
Shiva,the Creator - Demiurge, as the Divine Archer.
•The bow in his left hand has been deleted intentionally as
the figure depicts the phenomenon of the expanding form,
quintessential to the
eternal repose, peace and order in the universe.
•The downward pointing triangle is a female symbol
representing “Shakti”.It is based on “Shri Yantra”,
•It is the archetypal marriage represented in abstract form, a key to the secret of
cosmic and universal harmony.
CONCEPT BEHIND THE SYMBOL….

INTRODUCTION
It was a Saturday morning on 13th september’2014 on which our college trip to India habitat
center is scheduled.Hey I am Shailja ,a final year student of Apeejay Institute of
Technology, School of Architecture and Planning.
India Habitat Centre settled in a lush green area called as Jorbagh,its nearest landmarks
are Safadurjung Tomb and Indra Paryavaran Bhawan.I took up the metro from Hauz Khas
to Jorbagh,its nearest metro station. From metro station ,I took a rickshaw and reached
within 10 minutes.
India Habitat Centre is all connected with two major roads and within a easy reach. As it is
within 15kms from IGI Airport, plus within 7kms from New Delhi Railway Stn. And located
within 5kms from Connaught Place. This makes this place that handles transportation and
an enormous variety of public and private activities, from housing to banking to
entertainment to food.

•The first thing that I notices on entering the India Habitat centre is its
monumentous gateway that simply invites me to enter .
•When I step in my eyes were stucked for a while it was an
amazing huge courtyard within a building.
•Courtyard was all surrounded
By tall exposed brick building
Masses are oriented in such a
Way so as to make large open
Space in the middle.
•The spaces are so interlinked
That one is led to explore and
Discover the remaining areas.
•The place was so harmonised
And peaceful That I could
easily sense the direction of wind and comfort space.
Gateway
Courtyard
PASSAGE THROUGH GATEWAY….
Key Plan

LAYOUT OF INDIA HABITAT CENTRE….
Gate No.1
Use core 4A from basement parking for:
•Rooms Block
•Restaurants
•Fitness Centre
•Amphithreatre
Chauffeur driven cars can use drop
off points for above listed facilities.
Gate No.2
Use core 5A, 5B or 7A from basement
parking for:
•Visual Art Gallery
•Emerald Garden
•Silk Cotton Lawn
•Margosa Lawn
•IHC Information Office
To be used to access offices of Institutions.
Gate No.3
Use core 4A
from basement
parking for:
•Convention
Centre
Cultural
Venues
•Habitat
Library &
Resource
Centre
•Library
Lounge
•Balance
Outdoor Area
Chauffeur
driven cars can
drop off
guests,at
Convention
Centre porch.

•Then I joined my colleagues and faculty members at IHC Information Centre
situated approximately in the middle .
•From there we have to visit India Habitat Centre library, Its
name is The Habitat Library & Resource Centre (HLRC).
•Library has an area of 4000 sqft. and different sections:
1. Architecture
2. Lending
3. Authors
4. Virtual Library
• In the Library newspapers are kept for 3 months and then
Recycled for various purpose.
• There are 21 computers as workstation provided with personal
Cabin. There is ambient Daylightining for reading and studying.
STEP TO HOUSE OF BOOKS….

• There was a staircase for upstairs to the library lounge
(as shown in the picture).
• There were planters inside the Library to improve indoor
air quality.
• Gypsum Board Ceiling was installed on the Ceiling.
• All Furniture was made of wood.
• Coffee/Tea vending machines to enable uninterrupted
use of the HLRC.
• There is a separate desk(named as author desk) where
you can write and share your thoughts with HLRC
Members and if appreciated by them
it could have possibly be published.
• There are rags and carpets laid on
the floor to control dust and small
Dustbins for waste disposal.
STEP TO HOUSE OF BOOKS….

INDIAN HABITAT CENTER
A GLANCE OVER AHU ….
•There were two AHU
on the Library floor.
•Left side picture shows
the air-conditioning
duct and pressure
controllers.
•To right the picture
shows the distribution
board.

A MATTER OF LUXURY-THE LIBRARY LOUNGE….
Good view from inside and outside
•Library Lounge covers an area of 1500-1600 sqft.& has a capacity of
50 persons inside and 20 persons outside the Lounge.
•It is a place to read, surf,learn, disseminate and debate.it provides
people a relaxing space &conversational platform.
• It is also wi-fi enabled and users can bring their laptops if they wish to.
•The IHC Authors Corner showcasing the publications of the members
and enabling dissemination of the intellectual issues through Authors
Corner Discussions organised in the Library Lounge on weekends.

TO THE VISUAL ARTS GALLERY….
•Established by India Habitat Centre in 2000.
•It is place where you can encourage,
Analyse,sense the divinity of pure art.
•Ambient lighting system installed to enhance
Or project artwork(use of cove lighting as hidden lighting).
•List of awards for appreciation:
1. Photography Award – IHC’s Flagship Award.
2. Most Promising Artist Award in association with Art India.
3. Ceramicist of the Year in association with Delhi Blue Pottery.
4. Living in Harmony with Nature – Photography Award in association with
All-India Disaster Mitigation Institute.
Showcase of photos on staircase
Visual Arts Gallery

MEETING TO THE GENERAL MANAGER….
•Then after, observing artworks by several artists we moved to 5th block
To meet the head of the technical team behind IHC services and
Facilities.
•Then he started with the introduction in context of IHC site:
IHC covers an area of 9 acres.
70% of site area is covered by institutions(13 iinstitution).
Remaining 30% is for facilities purpose(from which revenue is
Generated for maintenance.
50% of total money spent on HVAC expenses. So, he said to think
intelligently about the design of HVAC.
He has also mentioned about the services that were designed 20
years back. In addition he also said about two level basement, first
level basement is for parking and another one is for the accomodation
of HVAC,Fire,Water,Electrical Plant.
He has also mentioned about the BMS system(Building management
System. That controls the temperature inside,it mainly works upon the
principle of outside versus inside temperature.It makes AHU,Chiller automatically

CONTD…MEETING TO THE GENERAL MANAGER….
principle of outside versus inside temperature. It makes AHU,Chiller automatically started if
there is a need to change temperature indoors.
He also describes about 3 chillers of 600 TR from which 1300 TR is automatically switched on/off by BMS.
Then he comes to building safety management during outbreak of Fire, he talked about AHU is connected to Fire
System, In case there will be fire condition,AHU will be automatically shut off.
In case there is no air-conditioned area,then also Fire sensors sense it and AHU will be shut off and if smoke is
accumulated around staircase or other area there are pressure ducts which will suck all the
smoke and through it outside the building.
Then he questioned about a case i.e. If there is smoke in the staircase, then how will we be able to evacuate that
place as soonas possible???
Then he told us that there is a UPS-emergency(for two hours after fire) at every floor and there were green
illuminating strips which directs people to evacuate.
Then our director sir asked about future green addition to the building in context of building services. Then he told
about existing green features in the campus and those are:
Terraces have high SRI material(broken china tiles/china mosaic) to minimise heat absorption by roof.
Windows facing sun have tinted glass for less sunlight & infrared radiation penetration.

CONTD…MEETING TO THE GENERAL MANAGER….
And the windows not facing the sun have simple glazing.
There were blue colored sunscreens which let the sun penetrate in winters and cut down the summer sun to
reduce insolation.
He told us that there were chillers of 2700 TR earlier but now they are relying on 1800 TR
And he said about the proposal to install solar panels of 250 KVA on the roof. As it is in talks nowadays.
He talked about the new addition in services:
Recycling of water
Rain water harvesting
Hybridzation of electricity with grid(7-8lakhs saving per annum)
Parking lights will also be changed with LED Lights.
 Changes Lights from 65W to T5 tubelights and 1500 tube lights will be lighted for 20 hours a day.
Then the staff strength:technical dept.-2 engineers and seven technical staff
:275 people per day in which 105 were for security staff.
Then he said about footfall when question raises about it!Its about 3000-700 persons/day.
As there is 4 more banquet hall needs to be added,construction of these 4 banquet hall is now in process.on site
there was free parking also.

A GLANCE OVER SERVICE MECHANISMS….
FIRE PUMP ROOM
• There were three
pumps:
1. Jockey pump
2. Main pump
3. Diesel generator
• For pressure
maintainance(aut
omatic)240litre/mi
nute.
• Hydrant/sprinkler 2400 lit/min.(in case of water requirement)
• Fire tank of 3 lakh litre capacity.
• There were centrifugal pumps used in the fire system.
• There were FHC at each floor and 2 hydrant on each floor.
• The area of fire room would be nearly 80 sqm. And height is approx. 5 to 6 m.

PLANT ROOM
• There was cycle: As shown
• refrigerant used was R-134a
• Chillers were insulated
• Iron pipes were insulated
with thermocol.
• Room area
was 300sqm.
Approx..
• Room height
Was 6-7metre
approx..
• Software's were
used to maintain
chiller temperature.
Primary pump
Secondary
pump
AHU

SUBSTATION
• This is the second only building after rashtrapati bhawan to get 33KV input line
from Delhi electricity board.
• 30% of electricity backup was from D.G. sets.
• From High tension panels to transformer and then to low tension panel this was
how the electricity distribution took place at IHC.
• There was a entry of 20*40 m to substation from service lane for servicing
purpose of substation.
• There are 5 transformers,all CRT
Type(dry type).

WATER TREATMENT PLANT
• There was 2 Raw water tanks from borwell is of 125KL capacity.
• There were 4 borwells two of them were running and two were at
rest.during peak time 4 borwells were supposed to be used.
• For filtration they used carbon activated mixture-their rate was
25000l/hr.
• There was a storage tank
of 2.5 lakh litres capacity.
There was much less role of
NDMC water supply.
• One day consumption of
Water was 2.5 lakh litres.
• Soft water tank:125 KL
goes to chiller&boiler.

HEADING UNDERGROUND….
•Then after observing Plant room,we moved to 1st level parking,there was a capacity of 1000 cars in the
basement.
•There were separate entries and exits on the site from basement through lifts and ramps.
•Good placement of staiircases and lifts for easy accessibility.
•Basement was equipped with fire fighting system,air blowers for ventilation.
•Wide ramps were provided for entry and exit.

SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
•IHC’s sewage treatment plant was located near to gate no.3 in open.
•There were open tanks to store sewage water then through filtration media it distributes for landscaping
purpose or any other(as shown in pictures).
•Good thing was it was not smelly due sunlight kills all smell producing bacteria.

India habitat centre observations by architect student

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