Student Hostels | Design Cooperative [DCOOP]

Excerpt: Student hostels are designed by the architectural firm Design Cooperative [DCOOP], keeping in mind the unique experience of living in a hostel. The design approach consciously engages with the architectural legacy of Indian Modern Masters – a successful negotiation of tropical climates, creative use of limited resources and a concern with the production of social spaces. Yet it departs from this paradigm significantly in its playful manipulation of form and structure.

Project Desription

[Text as submitted by Architect] The student hostels buildings at the Y V University are designed keeping in mind the unique experience of living in a hostel – a decisive and memorable phase in a student’s life.

The design approach consciously engages with the architectural legacy of Indian Modern Masters – a successful negotiation of tropical climates, creative use of limited resources and a concern with the production of social spaces. Yet it departs from this paradigm significantly in its playful manipulation of form and structure.

The spatial vocabulary evolves out of the dynamic action of modular blocks of rooms; each block ‘swivels’, ‘scoops’, or ‘slides’, and plugs-in to a central public spine The concrete screens, inspired by traditional jails, add another layer to this ensemble. Common spaces of varying scale thread through entire building knitting together shaded nooks, delicate terraces overlooking the landscape, dramatic overhangs, canopied areas, and multilevel arenas for students to occupy.