Crystal Hall is an essay on light, history, glass, and nature. Located on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, it was designed to be a modern Gurukul where students come to study at the residence of the guru, the surroundings reflecting the philosophy of the teacher in its ambience. This combination of private residence and liberal arts school incorporates the best of historical pedagogy while yet embracing the latest in technology. This worldview is amply reflected in the architecture of the building and landscape, combining the concepts of vernacular architecture with modern materials and technology. Constructed over a
span of five years, the building integrates sustainability, reuses, re-purposes, and recycles materials, and employed disadvantaged local talent throughout its construction timeline.
It intimately involved the client from the word go, embracing design for integration, change, discovery, community, equity, ecology, water, energy, economy, and human (and natural) well-being. Winner of several international awards, its 'crystal' design focused on inviting in rather than intruding-on its surroundings of orchards, teeming with deer, mongoose and peafowl - harking back to our primal back-to-nature instincts, and yet protected from its elements.
Primed to be a building doing its bit to combat climate change, it has the world's first residential windmill towers, proprietary use of two layers of high-performance recycled glass with a rainforest of non-invasive vegetation species within, thermal insulation technology, and rainwater utilization — thereby creating a glocal (global + local) building. Unbeknownst to most, glass is among the few building materials that can be recycled indefinitely without losing quality or clarity, thus reducing the building's carbon footprint as well as providing picturesque views from the interiors to the woods outside. The building follows a zero-waste policy and is a perfect example of socially responsible architecture. Everything was handmade, providing employment to the poorest of the local indigenous peoples while preserving the skillsets of artisans in the neighborhood.
Crystal Hall constantly refers to the past, conscientiously incorporating the much-talked-about but little-used elemental principles of design that have been common to practically all vernacular and classical architecture, everywhere. Its philosophical underpinning Paleomodernism (paleo, lit. first)—returning to Design 101: balance, rhythm, scale, harmony, golden ratios, etc.—is not new: Louis Kahn's work, for example, resembled classical design without plagiarizing it. Our aesthetic preferences are timeless, and yet we must imbue place, time, and technology we inhabit are sensitive to the diversity, equity, and inclusivity of our communities and environments.
Moreover, the architect’s personal adage of "Form follows, Function follows, Feeling follows Philosophy" is a new take on an old idea that he believes can be evangelized and help create better architecture for a better world. The Crystal Hall attempts to change – or perhaps retrace – the architecture paradigm as we know it. Form follows Function is a mechanistic interpretation of design, emphasizing the ephemeral (utility, stability, affordability, and durability) rather than the ethereal (that goes beyond the materialistic and the immediate. In addition to this, The Crystal Hall integrates sustainability, reuses material, and uses disadvantaged local talent.
If architecture can be considered woke, Crystal Hall would be a classic example in that, it has its heart in the right place and its conscience overriding its demeanor. The project has been a learning tool for many of its innovative features, in such a sense it's certain that many of the things that have been learned herein can be implemented by other architects, whether it is in terms of ecology, energy consumption, use of green technology or simply in terms of its visual impact.
Inspired by the ethos of the architecture of Louis Kahn, specifically IIM Bangalore, the Crystal Hall is a prime example of Paleomodern architecture, which marries tradition and modernism. The Crystal Hall is an example of Paleomodern architecture (paleo=first), much like the architecture of Louis Khan, which at first glance is modern, was inspired by vernacular architecture. Square proportion, Golden mean proportions, rhythm, scale, harmony, unity, podiums and pedestals, verandas, and local and climatological accommodation make this a traditional building with a modern outlook.
The building is flanked by towers that draw inspiration from the Taj Mahal minarets and brick kilns spread all over South Asia that provide the primary building material to India. Step-wells are common in temple tanks and water reservoirs all over India –like those at Hampi, being UNESCO Heritage Sites. The buildings at Crystal Hall are raised on pedestals common in the Southern parts of India, considering the heavy monsoon rains, also giving gravitas to the architecture. The verandas are common in the tropical climate of India, except in this case, the verandas are made of glass, paying homage to the location of
Crystal Hall 'Angalapura' ('the place of verandas').
The building includes elements that have been religiously, culturally and geographically experienced by the client’s family. Things like towers, water bodies etc associate with the family memory that dates to their 25 years stay in the Middle East where mosques, minarets as well as Arabian Gulf were part of their cultural DNA. The stepped well pays homage to the temple tanks and water reservoirs in India. The buildings sit on pedestals common in their home state of Kerala. The design's underlying concept of the Five Elements is enumerated in the green lawns and arenas (Earth), the fountains and cascades (Water), the fire bowl (Fire), the windmill towers (Wind) and the prayer/meditation/contemplation towers (Ether).
In a way, you could say that considering the site is situated amidst virgin orchards, farmlands, and woods, Crystal Hall's primary heritage is nature, and to be true to its specific heritage context, its primary instrument would be to be faithful to its ecological surroundings. Spread over half an acre, the building uses landscape features where most of the landscaping is adapted to the local climate and terrain, which makes the need for water and nutrients minimal. The plants are also passive climatological features that help prevent heat from transferring inside. Being constructed on the city's outskirts, the Crystal Hall served as a bridge between the rich culture and traditions that existed in the rural villages and the technological advancements of the city.
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