VIROCHANNAGAR - A PHARMACEUTICAL PLANT

“How does one undertake the design for a production plant keeping in mind not just the context of the land but also its soil quality, and water retention ability, while simultaneously responding to the processes of production?”

About 45 kilometres from Ahmedabad, is the industrial town of Virochannagar. Spread over an area of approximately 480 kilometres square, the area is made up mostly of production plants, industrial facilities, and hotels that are sparsely spread. The land is adjacent to the Narmada Canal; it suffers from poor soil quality, as well as issues of water-logging. This has become a consideration in the design process.

The land that the studio has been called in to develop is 106 acres, of which the current plans take into consideration an area of 20 acres. As part of the process, options were examined for site occupation - with one suggesting 40% be occupied by industrial buildings, one proposing that 36.6% be industrial, and the third option accounting for close to 43% being industrial land. Similar studies were undertaken for ground cover, and future development. 

Overall, the land is being designed keeping various considerations in mind, and most significantly, keeping in mind ideas of process, and the future of the land – when non-plant buildings, and a landscape design strategy will be envisioned.