Expansion and adaptive re-use of the old Vidhan Sabha (the historic Minto Hall) into a new Convention Centre and 5-star Hotel Complex overlooking the Lower Lake. Low-Energy Passive Environmental Control measures were proposed, such as chilled slabs (RCC slabs with cold water circulation) instead of centralized Air-Conditioning, Forced Air Circulation using thermal vents to cool the main 700-seat convention hall and adjacent conference/meeting halls, a system of operable windows in the hotel rooms that work in sync with thermal vents, solar shading devices made of stone instead of aluminium, ground hugging public spaces such as banquet halls cooled using earth-berming and sunken courtyards, as well the use of the adjacent lake water / heat exchange mechanisms below lake bed for cooling the water used in the chilled slabs.

The building form is achieved by linking existing trees on the site to form tree clusters such that the building then evolves in the interstices left between the trees - many of which are very old and belong to rare species.

2004

Chilled slabs, alternative passive cooling methods, geothermal energy, adaptive re-use, use of natural materials, response to landscape and existing old trees.

(in alphabetical order): Chaitanya Thakur, Chirag Mehta, Suprio Bhattacharjee.