Restoring, re-structuring and intervening sensitively in the existing, Udajee Early Years by the Nashik-based Dhananjay Shinde Design Studio illustrates the process of finding new meaning and purpose for an old building, all the while capitalising on the spatial qualities of 19th century abandoned space.
Udajee Early Years sits in the heart of the proliferating city of Nashik, in a context of constant change and development. A century had passed since the Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj – one of the oldest and the largest educational institutes of Maharashtra established a boarding facility for the school. Since its establishment in 1920, the campus has been a time-honoured expression of a community space and has developed an irreplaceable relationship with the social and the physical fabric of the city. A textbook example of early 19th century domestic architecture prevalent in rural Maharashtra, the single-storeyed structure is a composition of modest spaces – closely spaced load-bearing basalt walls outlined with a continuous running verandah. The legacy and heritage of this school has been a crucial element in shaping the educational identity of the community.
An aerial view of the Udajee Early Years campus positioned in the dense urban fabric of NashikOwing to the harsh exposure to tropical monsoons and with no major recorded repairs, the three-acre campus with over 22,000 square feet of built space was abandoned and left in neglect for over a decade. Enveloped by a changing fabric and located next to a dense market within an educational precinct, an integrated approach to restore the tangible and intangible connections was essential. Commissioned by the institution, Dhananjay Shinde Design Studio reconceived the boarding facility into a lush, contemporary and an immersive environment for a kindergarten and a museum commemorating the contribution of the founders. This museum reinterprets the evolutionary history and attempts to constitute another important step for the future. The resultant Udajee Early Years is a thriving space.
The ambition of this project lies in the idea of treating heritage with due consideration and respect the ethos of the old boarding school while amending it with just a few, well-considered interventions. The effort of restoring the dilapidated boarding facility goes beyond the brief. Instead, it has calibrated efforts to achieve optimum results to contribute to the cultural and educational rebirth of the place. Comprehensive planning and a complete integration of the museum into the built environment makes it an open campus that enables the local community to share the facilities.
The restoration proposes a measured intervention that confronts the existing built environ through simple mediations. An orthogonal campus consisting of multiple structures performing specific roles, was aggressively developed incrementally to meet requirements over time. The perceptively simple plan, two sizeable inward-looking buildings existed on a site that was divided by a thoroughfare connecting to an industrial workshop beyond. This in-between space was viewed as an opportunity to re-evaluate and redefine the relationship between the spatial design of the campus. By providing an alternative route to the workshop beyond, the space between the two structures was reclaimed. The campus today is composite of two symmetrical blocks opening out to the central reclaimed public space. It is fortified by the addition of the North and South walls to reinforce the rigid outside edge ideating the perimeter between the campus and the surrounding urban fabric. The South Wall accommodates an entrance pavilion – a strong element that defines the threshold. The entrance pavilion is an adaptation of the existing architectural language and thus sets a tone for the experience ahead.
Being the collective heart of the plan, this central open space also attempts to tie the disjoint blocks and render a certain articulation to the scheme. A part of it is designed as an orthogonal sunk amphitheatre to accommodate around three hundred people. The white-washed North wall next to the amphitheatre doubles up as a canvas for audio-visual projections, creating spaces of engagement and participation.
The amphitheatre creates a public space within the campus ,while the green within converges a dramatic perspective in which the structure sitsThe architectural approach presents a dynamic structure of working with the existing independent volumes that guarantee a seamless relationship between the inside and the outside. There is a definite functional distinction in the plan. The West block is programmed as a museum while the East block houses the kindergarten. The library and the cafe are accommodated in the West Block making the space open for the influx of the local community while keeping the kindergarten more of a private space. Since there were no existing toilets within the existing units, they were added to the East and West blocks.
“The pedestrian plaza with outdoor amphitheatre, garden areas with large shady trees, long verandahs contribute to the city’s much starved public spaces. It also enhances the existing structure while making a meaningful intervention in the approach to history and heritage” says Dhananjay Shinde.
The flexible articulation of spaces explores the possibilities of spatial occupancy for in-class learning, extra-curricular activities and the idea of play in the open-to-sky courtyards. The verandahs extend into various paved and landscaped sit-out spaces within the courtyard and create distinct microclimates and habitable spaces. These along with the verandahs generate arteries for circulation connecting to the various elements on campus. The visual footprint is concise and is yet connected to various vantage points owing to its orientation. The scope of the restoration work extends to the landscape as well – protecting the existing vegetation on campus and creating spaces of solitude to engage and learn: an echo to a ‘gurukul’ within campus.
The design reaffirms a space for learning being mindful of the simple geometry it is enclosed within. The three-dimensionality of the volumes and the clean geometry creates instances of dynamic massing and lends the project a sense of visual diversity. The volume – composed and balanced – frames the landscape and the skyline without dominating them. Despite the modest size of the internal volumes, they retain a generous spatial atmosphere: in part owing to the relatively high pitch of the roof. The humane scale of the verandahs against the volume of the classrooms makes the students feel comfortable within the learning space. These continuous verandahs work as in-between spaces connecting the classrooms to the generous space of the courtyard. Light permeating from the considerably small windows is first filtered through the verandah on one edge and assumes a milder intensity when it reflects on the whitewashed internal walls. These classrooms, being interconnected, do not restrict the movement from within – this connection is drawn with the outside by privileging a sense of enclosure.
However, it is the smaller details that make this restoration project significant and add to the humility and honesty of this exercise. The windows and the doors are repaired and repainted with bright hues contrasting the internal walls. The flooring was dug out completely and finished with plain and patterned cement mosaic tiles (in collaboration with Bharat Flooring tiles) – a visual relief and an element of interest. The inlaid montages of flora and fauna introduce a stimulating dimension to the educational experience beyond books, making the classrooms a landscape for the students to develop their autonomy and curiosity. This inlay gradient changes frequency around the designated functions within the campus rendering a unique visual language for each room. “The palette of materials includes local basalt stone, terracotta lattice, cement tiles, Nevasa stone, Shahabad stone, wood, Mangalore tiles etc that easily blend with the character of the heritage building” the architects note.
In this sense, many areas of the school complex are reprogrammable. They adapt to the functional obligations thus keeping the architecture of the place non-specific and simple. The strategic use of colour establishes a stimulating and playful identity for the campus, acting as a visual connective cell throughout the children’s daily experience. This series on the facade and the fenestrations, delignates an otherwise neutral structure to create a space to allure young minds. The montage leaves a refreshing, lasting impression.
The adaptive reuse and re-design of this precinct by Dhananjay Shinde for Udajee Early Years is considerate to the history and the atmosphere of the existing site and the sensitive, cost-effective and intelligent interventions within the space not only renders it new meaning and purpose, but also re-establishes the significance of the place as an institution. The restoration process synthesises a method to conserve the architecture, the landscape and thereby, the ethos of the historic place. The project represents the transformative power of design in dealing with heritage in a way that it neither overpowers and is nor overpowered by the old – a process of establishing an equilibrium and offering a sense of dignity to the re-imagined space. ⊗
DHANANJAY SHINDE studied Architecture at Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, then returned to Nashik to establish practice in 1991. The firm ‘Dhananjay Shinde Design Studio’ creates a versatile body of work ranging from residential and commercial to healthcare and educational works.
