The site is located in Gurugram, part of the National Capital Region of Delhi.The site is located on a busy and accessible, mixed use road which is great in terms of location for the project, but not ideal. Due to rapid urbanisation, there has been major construction work around and that has led to poor site scape. There is no local vegetation, the ground is dry and dusty which is a major cause of pollution. 

The site is not obstructed by contextual shadows throughout the year, hence the number of sunshine hours are sufficient. The hours are low in the winter, as compared to summer which is because of the low altitude of the sun. 

Design brief:

Flexible workspaces provide a range of benefits to the occupiers, especially in terms of working from anywhere and being connected. It is anticipated that the requirement of office space due to increase in remote working will go down but will be counterbalanced with the growing demand for collaborative and meeting spaces. The boom of start ups, young entrepreneurs and freelancers has led to the demand for co-working spaces to accommodate smaller teams who may not need to work everyday from the office. Office spaces have been resilient during the pandemic, bringing the requirement of a large scale headquarters under closer scrutiny. 

The project aims to design a co-working space that is comfortable for the occupants and provides them with space diversity, interaction and a variety of sensory experiences. 

Area Program:

There is a mix of dedicated workstations, small offices, medium offices, office suite and collaborative workspaces such as meeting rooms, conference rooms, outdoor workspace.

Building zoning and massing: 

The ground floor serves as a public zone and has all the common spaces such as cafe, fitness center, meeting and conference rooms. It has the main outdoor courtyard workspace which is the focal point of the design. The courtyard aspect ratio is derived from previous studies and has been kept to 1:1 as it works the best for the climate of Gurugram.

Semi-private and private spaces are located on the upper floors which comprise the office spaces and shared semi-outdoor workspaces.

The semi-outdoor workspaces are carved out in equal proportions to the indoor workspaces. 

The heat gains from solar radiation are high in this climate. The building mass is oriented in the North-South to avoid overheating and high cooling loads. The courtyard is located keeping in mind the prevailing winds from the North-West. Floor plates are kept narrow to increase to achieve maximum efficiency in the built form

While developing the mass, the courtyards were placed on the N-S orientation as it is the most favourable to protect from direct solar radiation. Several forms of the courtyard were tested for thermal and wind stress to derive at the current form. Floor plates are kept narrow to increase to achieve maximum efficiency in the built form.

Computational Fluid Dynamics studies for the space were conducted which indicate that it is comfortable for occupancy. The wind is 0.5 m/s at the ground level and goes up to 2 m/s as one goes up to the higher floors. 

Thermal comfort of the courtyard is tested by using UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index)

Two scenarios were tested for two courtyard forms:

1. Exposed without any shading

2. Shaded with canopy

The graph shows a comparison of strategies on a typical summer day (23rd April), with all the four variations tested. It is clear from the result that shading as a strategy is effective during the day. It is observed that the self shading makes the space cool and added shading makes it cooler. This suggests that shading can be adaptable and used when required.

An outdoor courtyard workspace is proposed, which is a key element of this design. It is the focus point of the entire building as everyone looks into the space. The idea is to create an internal oasis which is inward looking and creates a sense of community for the users inside. Thereby encouraging interactions, brainstorming ideas and socialising. The space is designed as reconfigurable and can be adjusted as per the requirements of the users. 

The design proposes an evaporative cooling tower, which shows that the air temperature is 33 °C and the effect of evaporative cooling combined with shading and vegetation brings down the temperature by 7°C. Local trees such as Gulmohar, Peepal and Amaltas can be used as vegetation to enhance passive cooling. It can be seen that even with Relative humidity levels of 60% with dry bulb temperature of 32 °C (during hot and humid days), thermal comfort can be achieved. 

Facade Strategy:

The sunpath of Gurugram was overlayed on the shading protractor. The facade shading strategy is derived based on these calculations. 

A combination of horizontal and vertical shading of 725mm is used on both these facades to avoid glare in the indoor spaces and achieve optimal illuminance throughout the year. 

A vertical green wall facade is proposed on these orientations to filter the harsh daylight. The facade system is like a jaali which has plants growing on it, the density of the jaali varies from the indoor to semi-outdoor spaces. It is more dense on the windows (indoor spaces) and less dense on the semi-outdoor (workspace). 

Solar Radiation 

Solar radiation for March-September and September-March was tested. It was observed that the radiation is more than 700 kh/m2 on the East, 350 kh/m2 and about 500 kh/m2 on the West – South facades. The proposed shading strategy brings down the radiation to comfort levels. It can be observed on the S-W that the dense green facade is more effective in cutting unwanted radiation than the spaced out proposal in the semi-outdoor space. The advantage of having a green wall is that it can get dense with foliage, controlling radiation along with the air quality. The added shading helps control glare and it is also adjustable so that the users can take advantage of the gains when required

Indoor Daylight Studies

Daylight studies were done to understand the impact of shading types on the facade. It has been understood from standards that a glazing ratio of 40% works for the climate of Gurugram. The ratio has been kept to 40% on all outer facades, the depth of the floor plate is 12m with an addition of a 2m shaded corridor, the workspaces are 80% glazed on the side of the corridor.

As a rule of thumb, height to width ratio of 1:2 is considered optimum for floor plan depth. Hence the height of the floor is 3.9m. As per the standards, the illuminance levels required in a workspace are 300-500 lux, glare is above 2000.

After testing various shading sizes and strategies on every orientation, UDI(universal daylight illuminance) has been represented as it gives an annual result and summarizes the result. The result shows that the east and west orientation workspaces had too much illuminance, but with added shade, it has reduced to about 40% that too near the windows.

Plan depth and height ratio

Thermal Performance:

Thermal performance for the indoor workspace was tested on typical summer days, i.e. 23rd – 24th April (hot and dry) and 15th-16th July (hot and humid). 

The input parameters were as follows:

ROOM GEOMETRY: (FIXED PARAMETER) 

Room Area: 150 m2 

Floor to floor height: 3.9 m

Window to wall ratio (outer facade): 40% 

Window to wall ratio (courtyard side): 80% 

Floor: Adiabatic 

Roof : Adiabatic 

Four cases were tested:

1. BASE CASE: Conventional building material , No shade

2. CASE 1: Improved building material + shade

3. CASE 2: Improved building material + Shade + Night ventilation 

4. CASE 3: Improved building material + Shade + Ventilation @ 25 °C + Mechanical cooling (COOLING SET POINT: 30 °C)

South Orientation:

Thermal performance was analyzed for a south-facing building across different design cases during hot-dry and hot-humid periods. Global horizontal radiation reaches 1000 Wh/m² in April, with dry bulb temperatures ranging from 25–40°C (hot-dry) and 26–40°C (hot-humid).

• Base Case: Performs the worst due to heavy materials creating heat retention (“hot box” effect).
  
• Case 1 (Improved Materiality): Shows a 5°C temperature reduction in both periods, highlighting the significant role of material selection in thermal comfort.
  
• Case 2 (Materiality + Shading): Additional 3°C reduction during the hot-dry period due to effective solar control; minimal impact during the hot-humid period due to reduced diurnal variation.
  
• Case 3 (Ventilation @ 25°C): Achieves a 5°C (hot-dry) and 3°C (hot-humid) temperature reduction, extending comfort range up to 34°C under IMAC standards.
  
• Case 4 (Minimal Mechanical Cooling): Ensures indoor conditions meet 100% IMAC acceptability, supporting a mixed-mode strategy for hot-dry periods.
  

Evaporative cooling from courtyards, would  reduce temperatures by an additional 4–5°C. During hot-humid periods, mechanical cooling setpoints can be adjusted based on occupant comfort.

East orientation:

• Base Case: Performs the worst, with extreme solar gains on the east facade pushing indoor temperatures up to 60°C—around 23°C above ambient, indicating a critical need for solar control.
  
• Case 1 (Improved Materiality): Achieves a 10°C reduction in both hot-dry and hot-humid periods.
  
• Case 2 (Materiality + Shading): Further reduces temperature by 3°C (hot-dry) and 1°C (hot-humid), indicating shading’s limited effect during humid conditions.
  
• Case 3 (Ventilation @ 25°C): Delivers a 7°C (hot-dry) and 3°C (hot-humid) temperature drop, expanding the comfort range to 34°C under IMAC 100% acceptability.
  
• Night Ventilation: Found to be effective, with night temperatures falling within comfort limits, supporting outdoor or semi-outdoor night-time use.
  
• Case 4 (Minimal Mechanical Cooling): Brings temperatures fully within the IMAC comfort band (up to 34°C), ensuring thermal comfort with minimal energy use.
  

West orientation:

• Base Case: Performs the worst, with extreme solar gains pushing operative temperatures up to 60°C (hot-dry) and 47°C (hot-humid), far exceeding ambient conditions.
  
• Case 1 (Improved Materiality): Reduces temperature by 15°C (hot-dry) and 7°C (hot-humid), showing significant benefit from material changes alone.
  
• Case 2 (Materiality + Shading): Adds a further 3°C (hot-dry) and 1°C (hot-humid) reduction, helping to manage harsh west-facing solar exposure.
  
• Case 3 (Ventilation @ 25°C): Provides additional cooling—5°C in hot-dry and 3°C in hot-humid periods. However, this orientation still struggles at night due to retained heat.
  
• Night Conditions: Ventilation alone is insufficient; extra mechanical cooling is necessary to maintain comfort.
  
• Case 4 (Minimal Mechanical Cooling): Ensures temperatures fall within the IMAC 100% acceptability range (19–34°C), making full thermal comfort achievable with limited energy input.
  

North Orientation:

• Base Case: Performs better than other orientations, with peak temperatures of 45°C (hot-dry) and 43°C (hot-humid), due to significantly lower solar gains on the north facade.
  
• Case 1 (Improved Materiality): Lowers temperature by 5°C during both periods, demonstrating material impact.
  
• Case 2 (Materiality + Shading): Offers minimal additional benefit (only ~0.5°C reduction), as shading is less critical on this facade.
  
• Case 3 (Ventilation @ 25°C): Further reduces temperatures by 5°C (hot-dry) and 3°C (hot-humid), in line with other orientations.
  
• Case 4 (Minimal Mechanical Cooling): When the adaptive comfort band (IMAC) is extended to 34°C, minimal cooling is sufficient to maintain thermal comfort for occupants.

Conclusion (indoor study):

Daylight Analysis: Controlled window-to-wall ratio (WWR) on the outer façade, combined with shading, provides glare-free daylight and optimal illuminance for office use. Biophilic elements on façades can further modulate light levels based on vegetation density.

Thermal Performance: In 24/7 occupancy buildings, constant internal loads prevent natural cooling, emphasizing the importance of unoccupied periods for thermal reset. The main design challenge is minimizing cooling loads while enabling mixed-mode or free-running operation.

Proposed Strategy: Introducing outdoor workspaces helps redistribute internal heat loads and facilitates envelope cooling. Thermal analysis under 50% nighttime indoor occupancy shows promising results for maintaining comfort with reduced cooling demand.

Behavioral Shift: The design also promotes outdoor activity during favorable climatic conditions, enhancing user well-being and reducing dependence on mechanical systems.

UTCI (universal thermal climate index) studies

UTCI analysis was conducted for small outdoor workspaces on typical summer and spring days:

• Summer Day:
  
  • Peak temperature reaches 47°C without shading.
    
  • Shading reduces temperature by 3°C, but by 4 PM, shaded and unshaded areas have similar temperatures, likely due to heat accumulation under static shading.
    
  • Suggestion: Movable or ventilated shading could further improve comfort by allowing trapped hot air to escape.
    
  • Vegetation and courtyard cooling effects were not included, but could reduce temperatures by an additional 3–4°C.
    
  • Nighttime temperatures are comfortable, supporting outdoor work after sunset.
    
• Spring Day:
  
  • Temperatures rise to 30°C due to solar gains.
    
  • Shading lowers it by 3°C, enhancing outdoor comfort.
    

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