The given problem was to design a new 30,000 square foot dialog center for the Indian Institute of Management, located in Ahmedabad, India. The project, located within the old campus designed by Louis Kahn in the 1960's, is intended to serve as faculty and graduate student recreation space, conference and seminar space, as well as house guest apartments for visiting faculty and lecturers.
The premise for this project is built around a negotiation. The building as landscape is bounded between two elements, water below and sky above. The habitation exists between those two elements. The program for the building is organized around creating informal conversation zones to act as a catalyst for interaction and dialog. The negotiation between landscape and habitation are represented through material. The landscape is concrete, the program brick, wrapped as a tight box within the landscape. The steps serve as the point of negotiation between the two. Here pushing and pulling of interior and exterior spaces takes place to allow for light and air to naturally condition the building.