Rane Vidyalaya School
Rane Vidyalaya CBSE school is an educational campus for K12 and a CSR initiative by Rane Foundation India Pvt. Ltd, a leading industrial conglomerate. Theerampalayam, the rural region where the school is located, has no proper educational institutions that offer quality learning. The closest city, Tiruchirapalli which is a Tier-II city in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, is 20 kms away. Neighborhood districts are a mix of small rural villages whose occupation is agriculture and unskilled labor. The project was envisioned as a whole but executed in two phases. Presently Phase 1 has been constructed for an area of 50,000 Sq.Ft. The intent was to create an infrastructure that would have a positive social impact on the local community and also showcase the core values of Rane. Photography by © LINK studio
Construction techniques from regional context, structured pedagogy of the Indian educational system and construction cost of $20 / Sq.Ft formed the underlying basis for the design development. Inspiration came in from the 6th century built Thiruvellarai temple’s walls and the layered cross sections of 50 year old houses in the region. Construction methodology, that was followed consistently in these walls, was layering starting from huge random rubble and stone at bottom, to finer solid brick work, mud and slate on top. Alternating wall layers of red wire cut bricks from local kiln and grey fly ash brick recycled from industrial cement waste were u...