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Bajaj Science Center
Wardha, India
The Bajaj Science Centre is an educational facility situated on the urban periphery of Wardha town, a growing service center of about a hundred thousand people, who’s nearby villages have an equal population. The science center was created to ameliorate a total lack of appropriate science education in the Wardha District. In this region where Mahatma Gandhi resided, the culture is one of simplicity, natural and honest expressions and empiricism, which are translated into the architecture of this ground level structure. The center is composed of an Exhibition Space; a small Auditorium; a Library; a Classroom; a Darkroom; a Physics Laboratory; a Chemistry Laboratory; a Biology Laboratory; an Applied Science Laboratory and offices.
The architectural strategy was to create a fabric of parallel walls that carry concrete vaults. This fabric was articulated through the creation of interlocking courtyards surrounded by vaulted arcades and verandahs. The connections between the elongated entrance courtyard, the central connecting court with the multifunction hall and reading room and the interior courtyard surrounded by laboratories and scientific facilities were accomplished with vault-covered passages. The result is a sequence of spaces that are closed and in subdued light, open to sky courtyards and open on one-side arcades and verandahs. There are open to sky courtyards for learning and sharing ideas.