FEEDBACK: DLF 

Martin / Baxi Architects
 

Outside of New Delhi at the southern extremity of Gurgaon sits DLF (Delhi Land Finance) City Phase V, incomplete. 
Martin / Baxi Architects propose to complete it.

The irregular property outline is subdivided into thirty paved, circular sectors, with the interstitial landscape left in its original state. At the center of each circle is a depression, which serves as a sunken entry plaza to the building placed there. The occupants of each sector can choose to utilize the remaining paved area as 1) parking or 2) a source of solar energy in a city where backup power is required during regular electricity cuts. Thus, different patterns of solar panels and parking spaces reflect the priorities and politics of each circle. The size of each building varies proportionately with that of its circle. Each is a cube with an atrium at its center. It is punctured on each of its six sides with a mirrored vortex formed by a curtain wall sucked into the atrium, which is open to the elements by virtue of the six large holes. Outside, a high-resolution screen wall of multicolored metallic pixels forms a grille shading a corridor that runs continuously around the perimeter. Inside the corridor is another, medium-resolution colored screen. Inside of that is a low-resolution array of colored volumes that serve as both service cores and structure, subdividing each floor. The distribution of pixel-units in each layer is based on an algorithm that transforms Le Corbusier’s Modular units to yield different results each time it is run. Site circulation moves in circles. At each intersection is a spherical, color-coded digital sign indicating sector identities. In place of neocolonial nomenclature like Princeton Estates and Beverly Park found elsewhere in DLF City there is only color, digitally generated from the numerical average of all the patterned colors on each building’s façade: Crimson Sector, Emerald Sector, etc.
 

> The project is documented in MULTI-NATIONAL CITY: Architectural Itineraries

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