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The client brief was simply to create the world’s most sustainable office building. This probably is one of India’s largest IT companies located in Nagpur, at the heart of India but more importantly it sits in a SEZ (Special Economic zone) of India. The design brief marked a paradigm shift in office design for the client, Infosys, where at the outset, they designed all glass structures to prove to their (largely American) clients, that Infosys’ capabilities were on par with their expectations. Having more than proven their worth over the last few decades, Infosys was now looking to being highly sustainable.

That was their brief. We took it further by challenging ourselves to design the World’s most sustainable office building for 20,000 people- to be Net Zero on Energy, Water and Waste to landfill.

Infosys Campus. Image © Morphogenesis

The inspiration was the challenge – to consider Sustainability in its broadest sense; not just about conservation of water, energy and resources, but of tectonic perfection, of the detail, the process, and the wisdom of a thousand years of architecture of the region. Climate issues were all embedded in the sustainability of the project. The climate is warm and humid but there was still enough amount of rainfall on site for us to be able to harvest rainwater and build a lake to meet net zero on water, to get fresh water out of it to sustain a community. Humidity is offset by the fact that it is a radial plan which is designed to capture wind thereby creating a microclimate on site which is sustainable. The warm part of the climate is offset by the orientations of the building which is turned 22.5 degrees to pure north in either direction to cut down direct solar ingress. So yes, the immediate environment did have a major influence on design.

Infosys Campus Phase 1Lower Ground Floor Plan. Image © Morphogenesis

Infosys Campus Site Plan with legend. Image © Morphogenesis

The plan evolved from the notion of understanding the capacity of the site; a capacity determined by four functions- energy, water, geology of the land, along with essential rules of urban design pertaining to light, ventilation, shading, etc. Based on that a Masterplan with a working population of 20,000 emerged, to be net zero on Energy, Water and Waste discharge.

Infosys Campus Section AA with text. Image © Morphogenesis

A remarkable envelope design along with orienting the blocks at ± 22.5 degrees to the North (in response to the solar orientation) allows for 100% shading of all windows and walls. 90% of all floor plate areas are designed to be uniformly day-lit and glare-free. Energy requirement is reduced to a fifth of that of a typical office building, which is offset by a 32 acre solar plant, giving complete independence from the grid. Zero Water dependence is achieved by calculating the rainfall on site, how much could be realistically harvested, creating a reservoir to that capacity, simultaneously ensuring that all systems are designed to the greatest efficiency, such that the water consumption per person is 50% of baseline. Biological waste is to be dealt with on site through a bio-gas plant.

Infosys – Image © Morphogenesis

Additionally, the building volumes were sized based on the lowest common denominator that is the workstation, so that there is no waste of space. At the same time, the design offers full flexibility through largely column free spaces, should needs alter with time. To bring back a sense of human scale, the modules are stacked into a four floor format connected through an atrium and staircase, allowing for slow mode interconnectivity; the enhanced human interaction leading to newer and better ways of thinking and working.

Infosys – Image © Morphogenesis

The design idea was focused on building performance to a great extent. Extensive simulation using the latest softwares has been conducted, to ensure the campus delivers being net zero on Water, Energy and Waste. The projected EPI arrived at is 25. With the EPI of a typical such building being 200 (Source: Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India) the challenge was enormous. It would push us towards delivering one of the world’s most energy efficient buildings. We are still building, so are looking forward to measuring the results.

Infosys – Image © Morphogenesis

The location on the Tropic of Cancer was a great challenge in ensuring 100% daylighting but with no glare and a great reduction in heat gain, to be able to be Net-Zero on energy. Getting it right was crucial to our commitments. We overcame that by orienting the buildings to +-22.5% so that we needed to deal with solar incidence on one face only, mainly. On that face, vertical fins spaced at 600mm and light shelves horizontally maximized light yet minimized glare.

Infosys – Image © Morphogenesis

Infosys – Image © Morphogenesis

Infosys – Image © Morphogenesis

We wanted to demonstrate with a project of this size that it was possible to be net zero on water, energy and waste to landfill, so we will have a model for larger developments in future. In a developing economy such as India’s where there is an immense amount of building to be done, it is crucial, the need of the hour.

Text : Morphogenesis