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Khushboo Mankani Architecture

Projects / Institutional

Saanj: a secondary school

A secondary school for a farming village in Haryana, built from the one element every building there already uses: the arch.

  • Academic
  • c. 2022
Render of the school courtyard with brick arches, curved seating around a large tree and a sunburst logo on the wall
View 01The courtyard: a tree, a ring of seating, and arches on every side

00Project data

KMA / SNJ·22

Project
Saanj: a secondary school (Institutional)
Location
Kahni, Rohtak District, Haryana
Site area
8,576 sq.m. (134 m × 64 m)
Context
Academic design studio, semester 4
Institution
Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai
Year
c. 2022
Authorship
Individual project
Tools
AutoCAD, SketchUp, Lumion, Adobe Photoshop

01Brief

KMA / SNJ·22

A school for a village that already has a primary school and no reason for its children to leave.

The brief asked for a secondary school in a rural setting, built to the standard a city school would expect and from what the place already knows how to build.

Kahni is a small village in the heart of Rohtak district, farmland on every side. Farming is the main occupation; villagers also run small factories and shops, and keep cattle. The site was chosen for its proximity to the neighbouring villages and to the primary school next door.

The classrooms ring a courtyard with a tree in it, the arcade shades them without taking their light, and rainwater comes off the roofs into storage.

02Site analysis

KMA / SNJ·22

Kahni, Rohtak District, Haryana: 8,576 sq.m., farmland on every side.

Site diagram showing vehicular routes around the school plot in Kahni
Site diagram showing pedestrian routes through the village to the plot
Site diagram showing the sun path and prevailing wind across the plot

Vehicular movement

03Form development

KMA / SNJ·22

A ring, then the ring broken open, so the courtyard has a centre and the programme still has edges.

Isometric diagram of a simple ring volume on the site
Isometric diagram with rectangular blocks pulled away from the ring
Isometric diagram labelling the main school building, admin block, canteen, multipurpose hall and central courtyard

04Façade development

KMA / SNJ·22

The façade is a playful use of arches, the most significant architectural element found in Haryana. Four moves took it from a row of arches to a screen that shades without blocking the light.

Elevation of a row of plain, evenly spaced arches
Elevation of widened arches with varied spans
Elevation with several arches rotated out of the regular rhythm
Elevation of the resolved arch screen with narrowed openings

05Drawings

KMA / SNJ·22

Ground floor plan of the school, a ring of classrooms around a central courtyard
Drawing 01Ground floor: classrooms ring the courtyard

06Systems

KMA / SNJ·22

Two low-technology moves do most of the environmental work: a dual façade that holds a cooler cavity behind the arches, and rainwater harvesting off the roofs.

  • Section detail of the dual façade showing a 45-degree outer layer and a 40-degree inner layer with the cavity between
    Detail 01Dual façade: the cavity drops the inner surface temperature
  • Section detail of the rainwater harvesting gutter and downpipe at the roof edge
    Detail 02Rainwater harvesting at the roof edge

07Views

KMA / SNJ·22

  • Render of the brick arcade at dusk with warm light behind the arches
    View 02The arcade at dusk
  • Render looking through a brick arch into the planted courtyard
    View 03Through the arch into the courtyard