A Bower for Knowledge
An annex to the Jamia Nizamia Complex
Architectural Design Studio
Studio 4
A Bower for Knowledge (Bower : a pleasant shady place under trees or climbing plants in a garden) is a project in the Jamia Nizamia Complex that was derived from a detailed study of Hyderabad and subsequently the various precincts of Charminar. The aim of the study was to rejuvenate the heritage precincts present in the fringes of Charminar, in an attempt to decentralize the otherwise concentrated movements of a tourist in the city. The Shah Gunj precinct of Hyderabad houses potential listed-unlisted heritage in the neighborhood and numerous educational institutions that engage with a variety of fields. The project uses infrastructure as a tool to generate a new kind of public life and rethinks the idea of what heritage means to the city & the neighborhood. The intervention in the Jamia Nizamia Complex is imagined as a thread that weaves itself in the fabric of the neighborhood, responding to the religious and educational institutes in the complex. The project is imagined as a garden that situates itself within the complex providing spaces for one to read, congregate, celebrate and learn.
Hyderabad, India
2019
Mentors - Shirish Joshi &
Sonal Sundararajan
Jamia Nizamia Library Intervention
Intervention Strategy
The Larger strategy for the project focuses on smaller interventions throughout the precinct creating thoroughfares and tourist routes across the heritage structures with one of the projects at a larger scale.
Bus Station
Travel agencies
Viewing Deck
Sports Club
Experience center
Public Park
Cycling Stand
Sports Complex
Public Park
How can architecture weave itself within a heritage precinct?
The project is imagined as a garden with pockets of spaces sunk under the ground and hard/soft landscaping sprawling across the site.
Basement Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Sectional Perspective
cutting through the Dargah plaza, Canteen, Garden and the sunken library.
The main volume of the project is sunk under the ground. This creates a humble interaction with the Dargah providing shaded seating spaces under the trees and the canteen that steps down.
Natural Light penetrates in the spaces underground through the light drums in the garden.
With the entire volume sunk underground, the spaces inside are kept passively cool in the summer heat of Hyderabad.
Cross section
cutting through the sunken Canteen, Step down seating spaces, reading room and the main open to sky amphitheater.
The entire face of the library underground facing the amphitheater can be opened up with louvered windows allowing for sunlight and ventilation to enter the space whenever required.
