The Satara Municipal Administrative Office Building was an opportunity for a regional centre to make a big impact on the national stage by playing host to an architectural project of great significance and ambition: to be a government building, built with public funds, that also represents the public aspiration of the largest democracy.
In such an environment of e-governance and mobile technologies, it is important to imagine a building agnostic towards function and yet inclusive and flexible in its approach. A building that is not restricted in use to office hours but one that continues to activate the urban space late into the evening with cultural and recreational activities.
Can we also not imagine a public office building without boundary walls? There must be an imagination of the Satara Municipal Administration Office Building as a building that one goes to but also that one goes through.
A building that stays alive throughout the day. Not only an office but also a cultural space during the evenings offering spaces that inspire people to sing and perform.
Creating flexible spaces that are inclusive and welcoming such that even if the role of the building changes, a quick adaptation can be made.
An iconic and imageable form that captures the aspiration of a public building that is neither classical nor strictly modernist. It is a poetic outcome of the program and services and not a ‘Box’ into which functions have been stuffed.
Clear zoning and circulation are offered organically by the form rather than having to segregate areas for separate functions.
Integrated design for passive cooling, energy conservation and generation, water and waste management and security and wellness have been imagined. A smart office with net-zero aspirations.
The ancient form of Warli folk art has been integrated within the design of the walls to show how art can be integrated within architecture.
