IIT Gandhinagar to move to new campus by next year

The first phase will see construction of classrooms and the next phase construction of hostels

With the first phase of construction of its new campus nearing completion, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) may move to its own permanent campus by early next year.

IIT-Gn is in the process of developing its permanent campus on a 400-acre site on the banks of the Sabarmati River at Palaj in Gandhinagar, first phase of which is nearing completion. The institute has begun preparing for the second phase of construction of its permanent campus which will more than double the student strength at the Institute.

For now, once constructed the first phase will allow the campus to host around 1200 students. Since last few years, IIT-Gn has been functioning from a temporary facility at Vishwakarma Engineering College (VEC) on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. While the first phase will see construction of classrooms, the next phase will comprise construction of hostels, guest house and the director's residence. What's more, the Institute is conducting a national-level design competition to select the architect who will design the next phase of the campus. In the first instance of the two-stage competition, the Institute had received concept designs for the proposed buildings from 43 architectural firms. A five-member evaluation committee comprising of Prof. Sudhir K. Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar (Chairman); Prof. Keya Mitra, Professor of Architecture, IIEST Shibpur, Howrah; Prof. Jigna Desai, Assistant Professor of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad; Ar. Durganand Balsavar, Principal Architect, Artes Human Settlements Research Collaborative, Chennai; and Ar. Prashant Pole, Principal Architect, Genesis, Bangalore, reviewed proposals from interested architectural consultants. So far eight eight architectural firms have been shortlisted for the next stage of competition including the likes of NMA, New Delhi; Kalayojan Architect, Mumbai; ABRD Architects Pvt Ltd, New Delhi; Space Design Consultants, New Delhi; Flying Elephant Studio, Bangalore; Inscape, Ahmedabad; Team for Eng. Arch. And Management (TEAM), New Delhi; and Architects Combine, Mumbai.

In the next stage, these eight shortlisted architectural consultants will be expected to carry out a more detailed design for student hostels, guest house and director's bungalow. Another evaluation committee will evaluate these proposals to select the consultant who will be awarded this project. IIT-Gn is also engaging a number of outstanding architects and consultants to developing a unique campus, which draws inspiration from traditional Ahmedabad architectural styles.

"We aspire our campus to have three main attributes: 1) it should invite visitors to want to come and see a beautiful campus, 2) it should encourage interaction between different members of the Institute community, and 3) it should be sustainable, consuming minimal energy and water, and require low maintenance. We intend to select architects who can provide most creative and interesting design," said Sudhir Jain, director of IIT-Gn.