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Senior Thesis e-Studio

 

   

Function

Office + Retail + Parking
Total Area 430,000 sq. ft
Height 252 ft
Floors Ground + 17 floors
Construction January 2012 - October 2013

 

 

 

 

 

Owner + Project Manager + General Contractor Lodha Group
Lead Architect Pei Cobb Freed and Partners Architects
Local Architect Edifice Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
Structural Engineer Leslic E. Robertson Associates RLLP.
MEP + Fire Protection + Spectral Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
Lighting Designer George Sexton Associstes
Vertical Transportation Barker Mohandas

 

 

 

 

 

 

The design of The Optimus represents the modernization of the corporate architecture in India. This building caters to the new and developing businesses in the city. It provides them with fresh spaces with facilities like ample parking, retail, recreation and gardens strategically spaced in the tight boundaries of the building. The building offers 5 floors of parking, ground floor retail, office spaces with balconies from 6th to the 17thstory and roof garden with gymnasium. The office spaces have an open floor plan that provides complete freedom to occupants to design their office according to their requirements.

 

 

The massing of The Optimus is made to display a sleek and unified shape from the front and the sides. This is the reason why the bulky parking spaces are pushed to the rear of the building and extruded outwards. Also, the massing and the materials represent different building spaces and appear disjoint from each other. The mechanical spaces are located at the north of the building and office spaces at the south and west give panoramic views of the city. All these design strategies makes this building standout from all other typical office building present in the city

 

 

 

 

 

The structural system of the building complements the architecture of the building. Latest and innovative strategies are used to achieve increased floor space area, celebrate the architecture and economize the overall cost of the building. In order to achieve these goals, reinforced concrete was chosen as a prime material to design the structural members. The properties of concrete allow fluidity in design and easier changes in design during construction.

The Optimus rests on a MAT foundation system that exists at the bottom of the second basement level. The basement raft is placed 10 m / 33 ft below ground level. The foundation raft thickness ranges from 24 inches to 55 inches. Retaining walls are designed to support lateral earth pressures and water pressures in the basement parking.

 

The reinforced concrete framing system of The Optimus is developed to fit different types of floor spaces from the basement to top floor. The column, beam and slab system are chosen to fit with the architecture of the building as well as to act as architectural elements. The columns of the building change its cross sectional properties and layout as the space progresses from basement to the top of the building. The columns from the basement to the level 5 are rectangular and oriented parallel to the parking spaces. These rectangular columns transition to circular and square columns in office spaces from level 5 to the top level. This transition occurs with the use of transfer girders, columns brackets and adjustments to account for eccentricity in the columns. The columns sizes range from 1.5 ft. to 3 ft. in width and 1.5 ft. to 7 ft. in length. Circular columns range from 1.5 ft. to 3 ft. in diameter in the office areas. The floor system is an 8 inch flat slab system with drop panels of additional 8 inch thickness. The flat slab system provides an flat ceiling surface to layout HVAC and electrical systems.

 

The Main Lateral Force Resisting System consists of shear walls. The shear walls envelope the elevator and stairwell which is the best way to achieve continuity in the walls from bottom to the top without adding obstructions in the floor area. The walls span from the base of the building to the roof and range 8 inch to 20 inch thick. The walls connect to each other through the floor slab or link beams to act as a unified system against wind and seismic forces. There are 14 short length walls in the North-South direction and 3 long shear walls in the East-West direction.

The building is currently under construction and is expected to be ready to occupy by the end of the year 2014. The owner and developer of the building are responsible for the construction of the building. The local architect, structural engineer and the architect work in unison with the owner to co-ordinate drawings and respond to RFIs during construction. Additional information on cost and construction of the building is withheld by the owner.

The Optimus provides the inhabitants to choose their own mechanical system instead of making the inhabitants compromise with a centralized HVAC system. For a custom mechanical system, utility areas are provided at every alternate level. The building uses energy efficient lighting system with LED and compact fluorescent lighting fixtures. Day lighting is achieved by the south facing habitable spaces. Architectural lighting design strategies have been used to augment the aesthetic qualities of The Optimus in the night

The Optimus scores points on sustainability and helps set an example to upcoming new building projects in India. The windows at the south facade are pushed inwards to provide solar shading at the same time achieve daylighting. On the other hand, the front facade at the west side is extruded outwards to collect extra sunlight for added daylighting. The windows in the facade use glass that restricts harmful ultraviolet light and infrared rays from the sun. This filtering the heat and helping cut down in cooling loads. The green wall enveloping the parking spaces behaves like a noise barrier for the residential apartments adjacent to the building. The entrance at the front is pushed inwards providing shading and protection from rainfall to the people entering the building. Overall, the building makes a very efficient use of the tight footprint of the building providing rentable usable space.