A philanthropically funded, liberal arts campus, Ashoka University resides at the fringes of New Delhi. The redbrick and jali façade invoking the regional dimensions add institutional weight to the multifaceted university. The ground space of the campus is carved into various courts that define activities connected to the adjacent blocks. The central mall with its amphitheatre is the key connector to all the functionalities of the site. Each block introverts itself into spaces that are easily conditioned and allow an intersection of views between and within planes.
The interiors here attempt to break the orthogonal and bring a wilful informality to spaces. Questioning and reasoning the entire ensemble seeks to build connections both imperative and then the casual.
The spatial density of the campus is countered in the width of its interior spaces that act as porosity builders intersecting and encouraging the social network of the campus.
The library is a function of several layers, aesthetic and core to the education imparted at the campus. The space was designed with an informality that broke the ground and the ceiling, planes in patterns that were variant from the strictly orthogonal campus.
The signage system for Ashoka was a derivative of the crafts of India and regional idioms. Both put together with standard way-finding systems allowed for the signage to be more indigenous and effectively seen as an artefact.
