The ultimate objective of a technology park is to provide an environment that helps promote new ideas by the virtue of the design of that space. It is a development that brings together office spaces and retail developments in order to enhance the operations of tech corporations, thereby providing various benefits and economies of scale to each individual business entity. It is the ideal blend of retail cum work space and boasts of detailed planning as well as innovative infrastructure. With spans of free spaces to facilitate movement and interaction. These are the main design drivers for the upcoming IT Park in Naya Raipur.The main concept of the design was derived from the idea of seeing it like a nucleus. The idea was to create a central space and have the built form growing out of it. The site planning was largely influenced by the trees on the site as well as the natural topography. The design was divided into four blocks around a central space which is the heart or the “nucleus” of the design. They are all connected to each other through the central space. The design is also pedestrian friendly, hence all vehicular circulation has been limited to the periphery. It can’t be helped that most offices will be based in fast-paced, highly urbanized areas that become contributory to a stressful work environment. Therefore, big-name companies like Facebook and Amazon are now bringing the natural outdoors into their office with innovative green workspace design. These well-known, multi-billion-dollar companies are now placing huge importance into indoor green areas in their new headquarters, opting for a more greenhouse look rather than the traditional industrial, corporate design. The design for the Raipur IT Park takes inspiration from this and intends to make the design a play between the inside and the outside.Being surrounded by nature has been proven to improve concentration, lessen attention fatigue and drive productivity by 20%. The design achieves this by creating multiple green spaces or break out spaces within the design which are interconnected. These spaces add on to the playfulness of the design and take away from the monotony of the glass built form.Connection between the green spaces and the public building contributes to the attractiveness of the design. Parking has been segregated to restrict and minimize vehicular access in the site. A Central amphitheatre has been designed which functions as an imageability factor in the site. Different iterations for the design were tried out, all along the same concept of having an open centre. Priority was given to creating green punctures in the built form and creating a walkable mini city. Greenery helps make offices look more like a creative, collective space for employees rather than feeling stuck in an enclosed place. The incorporation of green areas in the office has set a design trend, with the increasing number of companies identifying the importance of their staff’s well being. This is at the core of the design philosophy for this project.
