Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace

In 2014, the Titan company held a closed competition for

the design of their new corporate office to house its main
corporate team, in an atmosphere where the built envi-
ronment is interwoven with nature to produce an enviable
workplace where Titan team makes a reality of its concep-
tual dreams. The 6.5 acre site was located in Electronic
city, near lower Veerasandra Lake on the eastern site and
upper Veerasandra Lake to the west.

The brief given was that the campus should, “Create an

elevating experience for the people who are working, busi-
ness associates and visitors. The design should reflect Ti-
tan’s strength of design edge, innovation and core values
of ethics, trust. The building should be a “Nature campus”
with thickly wooded trees and water bodies. Combination
of low raise buildings (G+2 ) surrounded with landscape
water bodies, walk ways, culverts , outdoor meeting &
Ideation spaces. Campus to reflect an environment of
University. Should be technology driven Intelligent and
Sustainable building. Feeling of “one community” should
merge in space design.
Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace 01
Water Ecology - Clean Water

The presence of water bodies makes the site rather

unique. The design has a very special connect with the
site and the adjoining lake. The bio-lake is conceived to-
wards the eastern side of the site, which coherently re-
sponds to the existing Veerasandra lake, and would seem
like an extension of it. This resulted in the sinuous lines of
the building, complementing the organic form of the pro-
posed lake.
Flow of water

The raise of 2.7m at ground level brings in a seamless

connect between the internal bio lake and the external
lake, visually submerging the boundary edges. The idea
was to exploit every view to the lakeside, rendering spec-
tators to the serenity, and in the morning hours, the reflec-
tion of the water on the soffit of the architecture.

The bio-lake alters the micro-climate, and makes the

place cooler than it would have been, through evapora-
tive cooling, and also by reflection of incoming solar rays.
Being quite a large body of water, it absorbs a lot of heat Evaporation, cooling and moisture

during the day, only to release at night. The lake is kept

clean because of the local fish, and waste granite boul-
ders sourced from various quarries, accentuate the aes-
thetics.
During rainfall, the water makes its way down the floors,
cascading from one terrace to the next. The water col-
lects in rainwater pipes along the curved walls, on perim-
eter of each floor plate. On the ground floor, it finds itself
collected in collection tanks, where it undergoes filtration,
before it makes its final journey to the bio lake.

Botanical Ecology
Veerasandra Lake and the Bio Lake

The three-floor structure has terrace gardens at every lev-

el, which are reminiscent of rice fields, and are connect-
ed through stairs inducing a feeling of elevated ground.
These terraces also provide insulation to office spaces
below thus reducing electric load, resonating with the idea
of a sustainable building. All the green, that existed on-
site, has been more than made up for with the terraces.
Terraces allow one to work outdoors and also offers trails
for those who wish to enjoy walks along the proposed
650m path.

Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace 02

405 trees and shrubs, like Mahagony, Champaka and Ter-
manila were planted on site, in 2017, and over the years,
the vegetation has taken over the building, gradually mak-
ing it a part of the landscape. Each individual built space
opens up onto a greened terrace that spans an average 5
to 10m in width. Each of terraces on the first and second
level and on the roof houses an average of 27, 30 and
45 trees respectively, and are layered with 400mm and
1100mm (above the column, for larger trees) of soil filling
to accommodate water proofing, soil and grass planting.

The terraces affect the micro-climate on the site, along

with the water in the bio-lake. It also results in the attrac-
tion of flora and fauna, from around the site, rendering the
non-building as an integral part, masked in the landscape.
The landscaped terraces covered in grass, insulate the
building, thereby reducing the heat load and creating
comfortable conditions, in the immediate atmosphere,
and large trees provide natural shading, which make the
outdoors suitable for usage, even during the hot Indian
summers.

Wind/Air Systems - Clean Air

2015
The porosity in planning and form ensures there is con-
tinuous movement of breeze with wind tunnels creating a
Venturi effect, and the 5 atriums within the building, each
capped off with a skylight, allow for the rise and escape
of hot air, thereby bringing in cold air, with the use of the
Stack effect.

The planning of the program is in such a way that each

of the departments like Watches, jewellery, eye ware, ac-
cessories etc has its own zone but are yet connected to
2020 the other departments through voluminous atriums which
brings in light and allows hot air to escape and houses
lifts and staircases. Considering Bangalore weather con-
ditions and since bio-Lake and green terraces creates an
adequate micro-climate, we questioned requirement of
Air-conditioning for offices.

Another major challenge was “How to encourage em-

ployees to use terraces gardens as outdoor work spaces
and for interaction?” which questioned requirement of AC
which would result in completely sealed interior spaces.
Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace 03
A two / three stage air conditioning system is planned to
minimize energy consumption by 30% compared to the
conventional air-conditioning systems. This system which
requires continual air movement is coupled with highly en-
ergy efficient HVLS fans (High Volume Low Speed) which
consume about 20 Watt energy while producing 200%
more air volume compared to a 60 W domestic ceiling
fan. The third stage of the air conditioning system will be
used, only during high humid months, generally from July
till September in Bengaluru.

Sunlight

The building is oriented with longer sides facing North –

South to bring in glare free natural light. The western side
of the building is exposed to the harsh sunlight. A green
wall on the western side of the building shields the spac-
es inside, and the plants on it grow in volume over the
years. A green buffer zone, consisting of trees, in between
green wall and usable spaces/corridors, further cuts off
the harmful radiation.

Preliminary sketches by Sanjay Mohe

The five atriums in the campus vertically connect all the
floors from basement bringing in natural light and creat-
ing sense of one community, togetherness and encour-
aging interaction between different departments. While
the glass ceiling comes with a 1.2m shading element to
prevent heat ingress, the skylight of the atrium has the
Titan logo embossed on it, and it casts beautiful and inter-
esting shadow patterns in the interior spaces, and induces
a sense of awe and wonder, because of the volumetric
contrasts and the light.

The individual office spaces are also conceived such that

the interiors are enveloped in natural light through the day,
entirely doing away or minimising the need for artificial
lighting. The internal spaces come with skylights wherev-
er the footprint exceeds 20m. Artificial lighting is planned
with light sensors and occupancy sensors. the basement.
Solar panels are planned above the terrace along the
western side and above the service yard on the ground
floor to generate on site energy to adhere to 25% of the
energy requirement.

Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace 04

 Trough and mesh panels

Trough and
mesh panels

Green wall development to the West (2019-2021)

Space Planning– Unifying Diversity of Departments

Given the five verticals that encompass Titan’s corporate

functions, the structure was planned such that each ver-
tical has its own individual zone. The central spine along
the clear water body edge is a linear double heighted
space, integrated with a series of wide steps, courtyards,
product display walls, seating and informal meeting spac-
es. The spine culminates into an atrium, leading onwards
to the dining block. The dining block is designed in three
levels to double up as a multipurpose hall, and one can
dine either indoors or outdoors listening to the sounds of
birds or of the water.

A facated glazed crystal floating above the water along

the central spine symbolising Titan’s association with
Jewellery was created. This was concieved as a design
department where the designers of the various depart-
ments would be seated together, reflecting on the strength
of the company’s design edge and innovation. However
as the design progressed this is converted to MD’s cabin.
The second floor, is converted to a huddle/ brain storming
space, for the teams at Titan.
Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace 05
2017

2018

2020

The total area of the non-building, is 390000 [Link], and it

was finished in the year 2017. The lead architects on the
project were Sanjay Mohe, Suryanarayanan.V,Swetha Ap-
palabhatla, Joseph K.T., and engineer Mahesh.S. Consul-
tants included Airtron Consulting Engineers for HVAC sys-
tems, Light Vista for lighting, MMoser for interior design,
One Landscape for the landscape, Sripeksha Engineering
Consultancy Services [Link] for electrical consultation,
Sterling Engineering were the structural consultants, and
Maple Engineering were the PHE/Fire consultants.

Titan Integrity Campus, Bengaluru - Mindspace 06