Sarala Birla Academy | Bangalore

The Sarala Birla Academy, a residential boy's school is spread over 67 acres. The campus is located just off Bangalore, near the Bannerghatta National Park. The client's primary brief was to fashion an architecture that would inspire discipline and bestow strong sense of values amongst its students. The architect, to begin with, zeroed in on a gothic architectural style. At the outset, the design experiments involved exercises exploring the scopes of form, proportion and scale. In the end, skilful massing of form, subtle embellishment of its elements and a reverence to scale and proportion achieves the desired character..

The classical spirit of the campus transposes you to the venerable portals of historically prestigious institutions. The external expression of the building is emphasised by strong vertical lines, pointed windows and door openings. The fanciful details and ornamentation adorning the windows add to the classical look. The parapets, which have a series of flamboyant pointed pinnacles, rising from the columns are again a reflection of gothic influence. The edifice is dominated by towering blue roofs that stand out against the subtleness of the cream palette of the buildings. Ultimately, the low-rise monumentality of its architecture blends into its pristine surrounds. The symmetry of the layout augments the feel of formalness. The academic block is the focal point with all subsidiary buildings expressing a lesser sense of scale and embellishment. In the academic block, a higher volume for important areas like the assembly hall, the library and the entrance foyer accentuates these spaces while adding to elegance of the built form. All the hostel blocks have central courts that enhance interaction and present a space to pursue leisure interests. The interior spaces of the school have charming vistas and natural lighting.

The building programmes are interspersed with sporting facilities that reflect the school's keenness to highlight extra curricular activities along with academics. The campus has hockey, football, cricket grounds, a swimming pool, tennis, basketball, badminton, table tennis and squash courts. Art, theatre and proposed music block also forms a distinct part of the campus. An 18-bed hospital, postal and banking facilities are on-site, making it a self-sufficient development.