- Hospitality + Leisure
- Workplace
- Hospitality + Leisure
- Workplace
— CLIENT
Lucknow Cantonment Board
— SECTOR
Hospitality + Leisure
Workplace
— SERVICES
Architecture
Interior Design
Landscape Design
— VALUE
₹255m (c. £2.6m)
The Lucknow Cantonment Board – a governmental body in northern India – appointed us to design a new convention centre. The building would replace an existing community centre, and needed to provide a full suite of facilities for hosting conferences and conventions: meetings halls, a large multi-purpose hall, accommodation for visitors, and outdoor spaces.
One of the biggest challenges for the project was providing sufficient parking. The site was relatively tight, and we needed to think carefully about managing road access to avoid heavy traffic.
We approached the project with functionality at the forefront of our minds. This focus led us to design a highly flexible centre: the layout is symmetrical, and users can bisect the building using movable partition walls, allowing two events to take place simultaneously.
By creating a basement for car parking, we freed up outdoor space for open-air functions and events; we also placed the entrance and exit routes at different ends of the site to reduce the pressure on traffic. The parking spaces are also available for locals to use.
The building is highly sustainable: we used stone cladding for insulation, and added a rooftop terrace to reduce the “heat island” effect common in Indian cities. With the ability to hold conferences for up to 1000 people at a time, the convention centre is an invaluable resource for local businesses and organisations.
“The centre is an ideal hub for exchanging ideas.”
– EISHAN JAIN, PROJECT ASSOCIATE
