The seminal LaCONES Institute in Hyderabad aimed to be a ‘non-building’, and achieved that dream with the help of a glaze-supported ‘non-façade’, careful landscaping, and a specially-created rocky arrival area.
This unique laboratory set-up is a joint venture between the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi; Department of Biotechnology, the Government of India, New Delhi; C.C.M.B., Hyderabad; and the A.P. Department of Forestry. Besides basic research activities, LaCONES (Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species), would have cages and exercise areas for the concerned endangered species, along with in-vitro fertilisation facilities for them.
The site, measuring approximately 4-acres, had a very beautiful cluster of large rocks and boulders sitting along the edge. Realising the immense design potential of these wonderful rocks, architect Shirish Beri of Shirish Beri and Associates, in charge of designing the institute, requested the clients to acquire more land on the other side of the rocky edge, in exchange for some of the land on the southern side. “It was very nice of them to agree and oblige the request as well as the project with the additional land,” states the team.
These rocks thus became the focal point of the project as well as the central arrival space of the laboratory, featuring beautiful, stepped landscaping. The function of this complex prompted the team to think of this building as essentially a ‘non-building’.
That prompted the creation of an obliterated façade that does not create a very strong visual image of a man-made building. This was achieved by allocating maximum façade space and importance to the arrival area with the help of 5 mt. - 11 mt. tall rocks. “An organically designed structural glazing forms a backdrop to this arrival space. The reflections of the rocks, the sky and the landscaping in this glazing further contribute to the creation of a ‘non-façade’,” explains the team.
The character of the rest of the building, with its broken masonry walls, further enhances the organic, non-conventional ambience. The wing with 5 floors has been deliberately placed on the lowest contours in order to hide it behind the structural glazing. The building façade is made even less conspicuous by the presence of a semi-basement floor, standing partially underground. A separate service road from behind the building serves the animal cage areas, and other infrastructural activities. The exercise areas are so located that the animals moving around there can be comfortably viewed from the laboratories and other functional areas. “This adds greater meaning to the work that would be carried out here,” states the team.
The internal reception area, coffee lounge, the main circulation passage and most other sections relate themselves to the rocks and the landscaping beautifully, with the views changing dramatically as one moves about. The laboratories are not standing along typical double-loaded corridors, but are in fact spaced around a landscaped core.
“This expression is architect Shirish Beri’s respectful homage to a million-year-old natural heritage – the rocks.”
