While working on tha approach towards the architecture for Global Discovery Schools (GDS), we tried to think like a child. We studied child psychology and how dwelling spaces in the school affect development in aspects of culture and behaviour in a child . We took lessons from the world's foremost experts on designing creative spaces for children. We are very grateful to our mentors Mr Prakash Nair, Mr Gary Blumenstein and Amy Treff for their expert guidance and allowing us to put their lifetime of lessons in this field into practice while designing GDS schools.
We have been able to integrate intellectual and creative triggers throughout the design for our learning spaces, while trying to seamlessly blend their ideas with aesthetics that set GDS schools apart as more than just a school building but a place with lot of character and personality.
Inspired by the non-linearity and creative forces of nature and organisms, GDS' architecture is visually poetic, radical, idiosyncratic and environmentally aware; it embodies harmony of place, person and materials. The architecture is multi-faceted, free and surprising. The inspiration for this architecture comes from nature and can be seen in the shapes and designs that mimic natural entities.
An intelligently designed, interactive learning environment is often referred to as the child’s Third Teacher. We differentiate ourselves by integrating the learning spaces with the curriculum, this interface of our stimulating Learning Design Spaces ensures a greater cognitive bandwidth and applied conceptual understanding and learning.
The concept behind the campus planning is based on the age old Indian concept of a “Gurukul”. The buildings are spatially arranged around a central congregation space with a carnival theme for the younger children in the primary school and a high tech or contemporary theme for the older children in the secondary school. The courtyards form the heart of the campus. The landscape and outdoor sports facilities have been seamlessly integrated with the building thus creating a symbiotic relationship between the two. The design encourages and fosters an understanding and love for nature, champions’ outdoor play in the courtyard and beyond, and encourages the use of natural materials to harmonize the connection with the environment, helping children become better stewards of the earth. Areas of the structure vary in shape and size to create a ‘village of forms’ that provides great architectural scale and experiential variety, along with intuitive way finding and flawless interaction between programs and activities. The design seeks to encourage and inspire children to think about their role in the community and the world.
Since Studio M (based in Chicago, USA) joined the GDS family, they are part of this journey with the determination to create innovative 21st-century learning spaces and encourage students, educators, parents, designers, and the media to share ideas. Our collective objective was to design schools to support a variety of learning styles, enhance learning by integrating technology, support a small, neighbourhood school culture, create schools as centres of community, engage the public in the planning process, make healthy, comfortable, and flexible learning spaces, and to consider non-traditional options for school facilities and classrooms.
Studio M is a creative architecture and design studio specializing in innovative and optimistic design solutions. Offering architectural and interior design services, we work closely with our clients, nurturing a design from inception to completion. The studio combines the architectural, artistic, engineering and professional experience of Mr Manindra Singh and Mr Mandhir Chopra, the two principals with diverse experiences in Hospitality, Education, Healthcare and Residential.
The success of Studio M is based on 20 years of combined experience and dedication to design excellence across the urban and design professions. We have established ourselves as creative design consultants, capable of delivering projects within cost constraints and on time. We have worked closely to develop inspiring and functional buildings. Together we explored both the functional and the aesthetic objectives without any preconceptions. Thus the final design has emerged from a specific context and essential space program of the project resulting in distinctive and innovative architecture that is a reflection and symbolic of GDS’s aspiration and future goals.