The start-up hub of India, often also dubbed its Silicon Valley, Bengaluru has very quickly developed as a metropolis. Witness to a constant influx of students and knowledge workers, and currently home to almost 2 million employees from multinational corporations, the city has seen rent prices soar in recent years. This can be attributed to inadequate housing units, built infrastructure, and scarcity of land parcels near central business areas; which further leads to commuting challenges.

While adequate, affordable housing remains a challenge for most cities in the country, which have seen a massive influx of residents, it is acute for Bengaluru, due mostly to its planning where neighbourhoods in central Bangalore, the Whitefield and the Outer Ring Road (ORR) area are where almost 350 companies have their offices, thus leading to an inordinate rise in the rents in the surrounding areas. While considering housing design, it is vital not only to cater to demand but also to ensure that these spaces add to the health and well-being of their residents. For instance, the design of spaces with adequate natural light, ventilation and a connection to nature can be rejuvenating.

While natural light and ventilation have often been stressed, connection to natural elements can often be challenging in high-rise apartment developments. Often, designers will resort to vertical gardens, which not only serve an aesthetic purpose in facade designs but aid in passively controlling the temperature of the interiors. Terra Comb by Bengaluru-based architectural practice, A Threshold employed a customised green facade system in their design for a service apartment complex situated in a dense neighbourhood. Since the building is surrounded by other developments, the architects designed the spaces around a light well, using a facade made of terracotta tiles to act as a green buffer from the city.

Reclaimed ridge tiles cut into 45-degree profiles and planters envelop the southern side of the building, cutting out the harsh southern sun, while also acting as an acoustic (research shows a decrease of up to 5 dB) and visual screen. Moreover, green facades have been reported to cut down electricity costs by 30% by reducing heat gains and cooling the interiors. The façade design by the Indian architects takes traditional building materials, which are sourced from a nearby factory, cut, and then assembled in a framework of mild steel plates and repeated at two-feet intervals with concrete girders in discreet places, acting as a counterfoil.

With planters added to the ridge tiles which eventually grow as time passes, the design changes colours with the changing seasons, also attracting bees and other insects, thereby creating a micro environment of its own. A drip irrigation system that takes inspiration from traditional water pots used to cool water in summer is used for the facade. This system also sprinkles water on the terracotta tiles as an evaporative cooling technique. Apart from the use of a facade system, the designers planned the building around an open light well, creating internal courts within the circulation path that house common activities and act as spaces of pause. 

This demonstrates the use of simple, efficient planning techniques can augment the experience of a space. Just like the clever use of the facade, which proves effective for the urban context of Bengaluru. A turn towards passive, sustainable design should also consider simple initiatives such as the one employed with Terra Comb: where a singular system affords the designers not only the chance to revive traditional materials in innovative ways but also create comfortable spaces that cater to the specific needs of a building’s residents.

Project Details

Name: Terra Comb
Design Team: Avinash Ankalge, Harshith Nayak, Naresh Sivakoti, Karthik Krishna.
Area:
Site Area: 265 sq.m
Gross Built Area: 1096 sq.m
Consultants-
Structural Consultants: C. Ramkumar- Rays Consulting Engineers
Civil Contractors and Builder: Prasad V.
Landscape: Divakar and  A Threshold