Structure as iconography Gurgaon, IN domus 20 August 2013

Structure as
iconography
The Volvo-Eicher Headquarters brings together various components proficiently engineered
in different parts of the world with local craftsmanship, thus creating a structure that
shows a path to how we can build in the future. Playing with various visual metaphors and
typologies, this building stands sharp against the chaotic milieu of Gurgaon

Design Text Photos

Romi Khosla Design Studio Suprio Bhattacharjee Saurabh Pandey
Chandu Arisikere

Gurgaon

Something big has been moved into the placeless glitz of

Gurgaon. It has less shine and is more obsidian. And instead
of the impenetrable easy-off-the-shelf countenance we have
a seemingly ceaseless flutter delicately hung. This is less of an
insular fish tank and more of a Stevenson Screen.
Seemingly paying homage to automotive containers in which
automobile manufacturers would earlier transport their
unfinished products in an SKD (semi-knocked down) condition,
the building’s undeniably powerful structural iconography can
lend itself to amusing metaphors. As if a giant port crane has
plonked this open container neatly onto a flatbed trailer. Oh,
where’s the towing truck?
This building, the Volvo-Eicher Headquarters, is one of the
newest additions to Gurgaon’s fervently growing assortment of
buildings. What sets this one apart, at first glance of course, is
its sheer stance and expressiveness of structure, that catapults
a comparatively modest building (it only has 6 storeys) to the
This spread: built in the foreground of the urban mish-mash it is a part of.
tropical climate of India,
given the present water A study in how construction technology can show a path to how
and energy crisis, the we build in the future, the entire building was componentised
design of the Volvo-Eicher
and effectively ‘built’ off-site with techniques employed
Headquarters building
explores possible ways that attempt at a balanced approach between the precision
forward for modern engineered edifices of the erstwhile ‘High-Tech’ genre that we
architecture, employing a
balanced mix of traditional were enthralled by during the latter part of the 20th century,
and global technologies as well as the ‘loose-fit’ approach that is necessary for building

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Structure as iconography Gurgaon, IN domus 20 August 2013

This page: the architectural

design approach is that of
an exposed-steel span-free
engineered building

within a largely ‘informal’ and non-mechanised construction This page: the client
sector within the country. The country still has a persistent welcomed the building’s
unusual design that
craft tradition, as pointed out in previous articles on the works resonates with the cultural
of Kamath Design Studios, Studio Amita Vikrant and Vir and climatic reality of
Gurgaon, while justifying
Mueller. And the greatest challenge of any work of architecture the functionality of the
within this milieu that chooses to employ sophisticated spaces within
techniques and engineering (whether in its design or in its
actual execution) is to achieve the tenuous balance between
‘what-one-would-like-to-do’ and ‘what-really-can-be-done’.
In this case perhaps, there were lesser doubts on the part of
the client to support a building that is well, pre-engineered,
but not off-the-shelf. Also the very setting of the project (in a
dense urban setting where there would be considerably lesser
challenges in terms of ‘sophisticated’ construction) pointed
towards a balance that could be struck. Heavy engineering
and fabrication came courtesy of modern steel factories in
Bidar, Karnataka — the place where the famed metal crafting
techniques of ‘Bidriware’ have their origins. Local metal
craftsmen were made a part of the project too — in the process of
assembly as well as the finer details. The façade was fabricated
in Mumbai. In many ways, the project’s execution could
point towards how, in the future, ‘reconciliation’ between the
‘local’ and the ‘not-so-local’ can be struck. Also the persistent
metaphor here is that of how the automotive industry works

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Structure as iconography Gurgaon, IN domus 20 August 2013

•
The spiral staircase during
the construction stage

•
The trajectory of this
building has been quite
different from other similar
structures because of the
construction methodology
employed; various aspects
of this building have
been crafted with close
interactions with local
metal workers

•
too, wherein a majority of components are manufactured View of the spiral staircase
off-site. within the building

Typologically, the building prescribes to the generic within a

relatively modest footprint — and understandably so, as it tries
to maximise the envelope volume. This may also have been a
prerogative from the point of view of LEED certification. The
broad two-storey base houses lobbies, shared staff facilities as
well as open-plan exhibition and user-experience spaces,
while the set-back four-storey block houses typical open-plan
office spaces. An uppermost ‘penthouse’ offers workspaces for
senior management with the option of a charming screened
terrace garden that would also house the mechanical and
services equipment.
On a site that is oriented roughly in the South-East-to-North-
West axis, the building tries to maximise its exposure to
north light for the workspaces by positioning the bulk of its
services on the longer South-West façade, which also forms a
considerable heat-sink to the blazing afternoon sun. Roughly
configuring an open ‘T’ within the rectilinear typical floor
plan, the services maximise efficiency in terms of the floor-
plate arrangement, allowing for large column-free office
spaces. While the delicate all-encompassing ‘wrap’ of kite-like
•

fluttering armatures over the generic glass-and-terracotta-

Image indicating the scale of
spandrel-panel box makes for an enticing visual proposition, the joinery and the different
one wonders whether there could have been some scope of components coming together

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 Structure as iconography Gurgaon, IN domus 20 August 2013

6
1 3

1 Lobby
2 Main staircase
8 8 3 Open work space
4
4 4 10 9 1 7 10 4 Enclosed cabin
5 Meeting / conference room
6 Fire escape stair 11
11
7 Server room
8 Toilet
3 3 9 Pantry
10 A.H.U. room
11 11 Louvre
12 Canteen
13 Information meeting area
4 11 11
4 5 5 14 Exhibition space
1 15 UPS room
16 Services room 19 19
17 Entry ramp
18 Exit ramp 2 2
2 19 Green area
20 Service staff
21 Security hut 17 1
22 Service equipments
23 Senior management
0 10m 24 M.S. + wood pergola 19

2 4
16
23 23
22
6 19
19 18
6 8
10 21
16 10 20 20
8 1 7
8
20 20 15
9
19 19 4
14 11 11
4
3 3
17 24
x 13 1 20 x 4
22
19 12 2 5 5 5
4 3 3 4 24
5 5 21
6
19
13 5
12
A

20 19 20 19 20 19

0 10m
0 10m

volvo – eicher headquarter fact box drawings drawings

Design Structural Consultant Project Area 1 
Typical floor plan 3  Elevation A
Romi Khosla Design Studios, Frischmann Prabhu 9,972 m2
New Delhi 2  Ground floor plan 4  Section xx
MEP & LEED Consultant Project Phase
Principal Architects Spectral Design Services 2010 - 2012
Romi Khosla,
Martand Khosla Client
Eicher Goodearth Pvt. Ltd.
Design Team
Chandu V. Arsikere, Location
Ram Pandarathil Nair, Gurgaon, Haryana
Sanjoli Tuteja

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Structure as iconography Gurgaon, IN domus 20 August 2013

1 Glazed curtain wall comprising of 24 mm insulated (HS) glass unit

2 Terra-cotta cladding comprising of ms (HDG-75 microns)
brackets, metal shims welded to steel structure along with vertical
7 aluminium box sections (anodised 25 microns) bolted to the
MS brackets
1
3 Raised floor comprising of steel cementitious infill on 500 x 500 x
30 mm thick interchangeable steel panels overlaid with 5 mm thick
carpet tiles
8 4 80 mm + 80 mm thick Zinc galvanised steel shallow composite
2 floor decking
1. GLAZED CURTAIN WALL COMPRISING OF 24 MM INSULATED (HS) GLASS UNIT.
5 39 mm thick checkered aluminium walkway on 150 x 75 mm twin
3 2. TERRA-COTTAgalvanised
CLADDINGsteel brackets
COMPRISING OFsupporting
MS (HDG-75 vertical
MICRONS) flanges of virendal
BRACKETS,
truss supporting louvres
METAL SHIMS WELDED TO STEEL STRUCTURE ALONG WITH VERTICAL ALUMINIUM
4 5 6 42.4 mm diameter MS railing
7 Perforated
BOX SECTIONS (ANODISEDaluminium
25 MICRONS) louvres
BOLTEDattached
TO THE MSto the vertical bracings
BRACKETS

3. RAISED8 150
FLOOR x 75 x 12 mm
COMPRISING thick
OF STEEL vertical flanges
CEMENTITIOUS INFILL of
ONvirendal truss
500x500x30 MM
supporting louvres
THICK INTERCHANGEABLE STEEL PANELS OVERLAID WITH 5 MM THICK CARPET TILES.

X 4. 80 MM + 80 MM THICK ZINC GALVANIZED STEEL SHALLOW COMPOSITE FLOOR

DECKING

5. 39 MM THICK CHECKERED ALUMINIUM WALKWAY ON 150x75 MM TWIN GALVANIZED

STEEL BRACKETS SUPPORTING VERTICAL FLANGES OF VIRENDAL TRUSS SUPPORTING

LOUVRES

6. 42.4 MM DIA MS RAILING

7. PERFORATED ALUMINIUM LOUVRES ATTACHED TO THE VERTICAL BRACINGS

8. 150x75x12 MM THICK VERTICAL FLANGES OF VIRENDAL TRUSS SUPPORTING LOUVRES.

A X

This spread: the solar façade

louvres have been hand
fixed to pre-determined defining the orientations and exposures differently, with
positions for modulation say, more glass area on the northern aspects, considering the
determined by complex
calculations for each façade relatively dense metal scrim and the oblique angles at which
sunlight may brush past those façades.
Without doubt, the building's unforgettable iconographic
signature is its oversized, super-scaled braced box, with the
bowstring strut seemingly forming the axis along which the
rib-like vierendeel beams supporting the perforated aluminium
screens twist or rather ‘warp’, seemingly (and metaphorically,
yes) bent by the Gurgaon heat. Its sheer ponderous nature and
firm stance makes it a brawny companion to the gossamer-
like wispiness of the sunscreen. At first glance the immediate
contrast may strike one as odd — more so as one never really
gets a grasp of how the braced box ‘sits’ on the ground (it’s
lower frame seems to have gone ‘missing’) while the sunscreen
manages to define a specific geometry. The broadened base here
is perhaps a typological monster — what if we could have seen
the two braced cubes float free off the transverse staircase core,
seemingly levitating themselves in a cheerful, frolicking see-
saw over the not-so-fancy neighbours, with the base discreetly
tucked in?
The other significant and welcome aspect of the architecture
is how it eschews a sense of visual ‘refinement’ in favour of
a tectonic language that is ‘rough-at-the-edges’ — discarding
the overwrought corporate imagery of a ‘desired slickness’.
Details and junctions are not meant to be covered up under the
sheen of a supposed designer attire, but are rather exposed and
displayed unassumingly for contemplation and inspection. This
furthers the building’s core conceptual driver as an exercise
in ‘making’. Reused wood from packaging material from the
truck manufacturer’s factories reinforces this ‘rawness’ on the

•
exterior pergola that wraps the two-storey base, as well as in View of the louvres as seen
the furniture that has been custom-designed. from within the building

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Structure as iconography Gurgaon, IN domus 20 August 2013

The building boasts of significant environmental strategies

too — such as the reduced water usage, a lower running energy
bill due to significant sun-shading in addtion to greater ingress
of natural light, as well as the significant usage of recycled
materials — as described earlier. Of course the paradox is how
the carbon footprint can be minimised in constructions like
this, where components need to be manufactured and shipped
in from distant places. This is a challenge that the global
construction industry has been facing for quite some time now.
With a few simple but dramatic gestures, this office building
becomes a celebratory assertment of the possibilities of
construction and the integration of precision engineering and
local craftsmanship.
—
Suprio Bhattacharjee
Architect

•
For the interiors, all
packaging material of
all the Volvo trucks that
arrived in India were saved
up and used to construct
nearly 80 per cent of the
interior woodwork

View of the building within

its backdrop, during
different times of the day,
and at night

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