Campus Planning and Design: An Indian Experience

By Harmit Bedi, AICP

Indian Institutes of Technology are known as IITs, each designated by the name of the city where it is located — IIT Delhi, for example. The concept of IITs is totally different from the American higher education system. They are a group of autonomous public engineering institutes linked to one another through a common IIT Council. The IITs are governed by the Institute of Technology Act of 1961, which has declared them to be "institutions of national importance." There are 16 IITs.

The history of the IIT system dates to 1946 during the British Raj — before India's independence — when Sir Jogendra Singh of the Viceroy's Executive Council established a committee to consider the creation of higher technical institutions. The committee recommended the establishment of at least four higher technical institutes, similar to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but in various locations. The first IIT was founded in May 1950 at the Hijli Detention Camp in Kharagpur.

IITs admit about 10,000 students every year for undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Over the years IITs have created world-class educational platforms sustained through internationally recognized research based on the infrastructure of excellent facilities. The faculty and alumni of IITs have made a huge impact on all sectors of society, both in India and abroad. The institutes are globally recognized as centers of academic excellence and are renowned for the outstanding caliber of their students.

In The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman states, "For most of their fifty years, these IITs were one of the greatest bargains America ever had. It was as if someone installed a brain drain that filled up in New Delhi and emptied in Palo Alto. Roughly one of four IIT grads ended up in the United States — so many that the American IIT expats have their own organization and sub-chapters in the United States and hold an annual convention here."

Opportunity

For me, returning to India to design a university campus was as exciting as coming to America. The invitation was to prepare a master plan and design a new campus on 500 acres of greenfield for IIT Ropar (in the state of Punjab). While managing planning departments, I taught at various universities as adjunct faculty, and as an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, my enthusiasm was boundless. M. K. Surappa, director of IIT Ropar, said, "I want IIT Ropar to be the best designed IIT in India. I want people from other IITs, institutions, and organizations, including overseas, to visit IIT Ropar to see our campus."

India's growth rate has reached double digits since the late 1990s. India is also a huge market, with a population of 1.2 billion, second only to China's. International and U.S. companies such as Wal-Mart, GE, IBM, Microsoft, General Motors, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Gucci, Lamborghini, Nike, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway, compete there. Megaprojects abound: a multilane highway connecting four metropolitan cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai — and now India's first monorail, which opened in Mumbai in February. More than a dozen schools offer planning degrees.

IIT Ropar is located in northern India, about 170 miles north of New Delhi and a stone's throw from the Shivalik Hills; both the foothills of the Himalayas and the vast plains start there. Thus, the site is flat with a little slope toward the Sutluj River, a major water body. Topography makes it desirable for development. With fertile soil and abundant water, the land has been used for agriculture for centuries.

The river, along with a reservoir lake near the Bhakra Dam, floods during monsoons. In the eastern portion of the site is a choe (the local name for a seasonal stream) that runs through the site. Choes play a vital role during the monsoon season by channeling the heavy rainwaters. As project manager, I instructed the consultants to save the water and make it part of the stormwater management plan. The result will be a regional detention area with features such as pavilions, a cafe, a walking trail, and fishing.

IIT Ropar is located five kilometers (about three miles) from the city of Ropar, founded in the 11th century. This area has great religious and historic significance. About five kilometers from the institute, site excavations have yielded various objects from the Harappa civilization that date from 2100 to 1400 BC. The consultants were directed to explore the details of the ancient civilization to integrate them into the design process. A proposed museum would share the findings and preserve and display the research work of students and faculty.

The campus is 42 kilometers (26 miles) from Chandigarh, of Punjab's capital. Chandigarh, a planned city designed by Swiss architect Le Corbusier in the early 1950s, is a mecca for urban planners, urban designers, and architects.

Challenges

In addition to the topographical survey and geotechnical analysis, it was critical to determine whether the underground water near the site is potable. Because the site has been used for agriculture, it was thought that farmers might have applied fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides, and that toxins might have filtered into the underground water.

The site is home to various local flora and fauna such as deer, peacocks, rabbits, butterflies, and birds. The consultants were told to design the choe area to protect, preserve, accommodate, and extend the livability of the local plants and animals and to associate them with recreational activities.

Wetlands were to be maintained — in contrast to the common U.S. practice of filling and developing them. However, the local professionals are still learning about the impacts of disturbing ecosystems because they have little experience with development.

Adjacent to the IIT site, the state government in 2011 allocated 200 acres of land to the Indian Army to build a naval recruiting center and 12 acres to the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology to build a campus. That would mean additional impervious surface in an already flood-prone area.

Discussing the projects with the engineers of the respective organizations, I learned that they did not expect to incorporate a stormwater management plan in their development process. However, that changed when they heard more — and they further agreed to coordinate with the IIT plan.

More constraints

IIT students, faculty, and permanent staff are required to live in campus residences provided by the institute. The challenge was to project how much residential space would be needed for at least 50 years. The initial phase, due for completion in 2015, will accommodate about 500 students, 75 faculty, 75 staff members, and visitors.

Both the city of Ropar and IIT Ropar lack direct links to major regional transportation systems. That gap could create serious problems for campus residents, especially students.

The master plan recommended providing efficient linkages — specifically, a sleek rail system to link the institute with the cities of Ropar and Chandigarh. Meetings were organized with the Indian Railways and state roadway systems to incorporate the institute's needs into their future plans. That notion gained a lot of support.

Cascading

IIT Ropar's overall aim is to create a futuristic, multidisciplinary academic campus, nationally and internationally recognized for its educational quality — one that respects the local culture and heritage. The institute will be developed as a sustainable, environmentally friendly, pedestrian-oriented, aesthetically appealing, harmonious academic campus. Also, the campus will act as a living laboratory for many disciplines and as a catalyst for other institutions.

The design harnesses resources and employs renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, and waste recapture. A green zone is part of the plan, as are health-oriented activities in areas designated as urban forest, nature trails, urban garden, horticulture and floriculture, orchards, and herb and medicinal planting areas. Open spaces will be used for agriculture when it's feasible. Locally grown produce, herbs, and spices will be available at the campus market.

The campus is designed to provide safe pedestrian circulation, and to encourage bicycle use. Automobile use is downplayed. Facilities for recreational, cultural, and sports activities are included, as are features for physically and visually challenged individuals.

India's Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment, equivalent to LEED in the U.S., is evolving, but the campus design aims to achieve at least a three-star rating per India's national guidelines.

Kickoff

"The project is behind schedule," I was told the evening I arrived in April 2012. There were many unanswered questions. To find answers, I organized charrettes, which were a new phenomenon for everyone on the existing campus, and I hired the consultants who would ultimately work on various aspects of the new campus plan.

A word about the people involved: The institute set up a temporary campus in 2008 using the vacated buildings of an abandoned college with about 400 students, 50 faculty, and 30 administrative staff. They faced several challenges: a shortage of classrooms, laboratories, and housing for both students and faculty.

As project manager for the new campus, I also organized the process for hiring consultants. Thirty-eight national and international firms expressed interest. Then the list was narrowed to seven semifinalists and then to two finalists.

Moving forward, my feeling was, "It will work"! Separate charrettes were held with undergraduate students, postdoctoral students, faculty, library staff, and security staff. Each event was well attended, and the ideas put forward helped in developing a vision for the new campus and the needs of various groups. Repeatedly, I heard people say, "I thought no one would ask for my opinion."

The faculty of the respective departments, and they were challenged to envision their needs five, 10, and 15 years into the future. Consequently, departments like chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science and engineering, and civil engineering were designed differently from those at other IITs. For example, up-to-date chemical engineering laboratories require more ventilation and air filtering than their predecessors.

Likewise, the use and design of libraries have changed in recent years because of digital technologies and shifting study habits. Taking India's tropical climate into account, the library was designed for ample outdoor use.

Hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and local community officials visited to review and comments on the draft plans, which were completed in late 2012.

The campus

Altogether, the campus area covers about 500 acres. The site is shaped like a spaceship — 3.7 km long and 1.5 km wide (2.3 x 0.94 miles). Its peripheral boundary measures 11.3 km (seven miles). A multipurpose, motorable trail is to be built along the property line, with nearby picnic areas, pavilions, benches, play area, yoga and tai chi sections, decorative street lights, fruit and decorative trees, and maintenance, emergency, and security facilities.

The semifinalist consulting firms conducted a needs assessment study. The study resulted in the institute planning for 1,400 students in phase one, 2,500 in phase two, 5,000 in phase three, and 10,000 at maturity. The faculty student ratio will be 1:8, and administrative and supportive staff will be three times that of the faculty. Some of the administrative and support group will be gone by phase three as technology becomes more efficient.

Phase one is scheduled for completion in 2015, phase two in 2020, and the final phases beginning in 2025. Evaluation and monitoring of the project will continue throughout the process.

Two bandhs (the local name for dam or berm), ranging six to eight feet high, were installed along the north and south boundary lines to protect the areas from flood waters. According to the campus plan, the bandh will metamorphose into a 30-meter- (nearly 100-foot-) wide access road with four entrances. This pedestrian-friendly design will allow access to the core of the campus from every direction — but not by automobile. Parking spaces are being provided at the peripheral area of the campus core.

At the entrance is a large water body with an Indian sculpture symbolizing welcome. Around the water body is a walking path with a streetscape and fountain. A welcome center, museum, and Harrapan Civilization Center will be located near the library, which, in turn, will be centrally located for convenient access to housing, classrooms, labs, theaters, and workshops. All these activity buildings are being connected to a main pedestrian plaza.

Another interesting feature is a department for high-tech research that will provide technology entrepreneurs with an environment to encourage research in frontier areas. A unique aspect of this institution is that researchers need not be faculty members. Because of its intensive research nature, it is designed to be secluded in the extreme western section of the campus.

Finally, there is housing: For students, men's and women's hostels are placed to the east. Many details were considered during their design: size of rooms, occupancy numbers, bathroom-to-room ratio, height, stories, and the number of residents in each building. The walkways from the hostels are weather protected.

In turn, faculty members and their spouses had much to say about the size of their houses, number of rooms, front and rear yards, parking garages, stories, sidewalks, visitor's parking spaces, landscaping, streetlights, and other details. A play area is planned for the children of faculty and staff, as is day care. Reflecting their culture, IIT officials decided against mixed use and mixed living accommodations for faculty and administrative staff.

More details

In India, a campus plan without a cricket field would lead to the designer's exile! An international standards play area for cricket, hockey, football (soccer), and outdoor tennis has been designed. An indoor sports complex and 5,000-seat amphitheater will host more than a dozen other activities.

In the southeast quadrangle of the campus a solar panel farm is being constructed to meet part of the campus's energy needs. Because the campus will be developed in phases, the campus design allows for additional solar panel farms whenever feasible.

The market area is to be a hybrid of western and eastern shopping habits — with ample parking at the outer periphery. This area is designed to be relaxing, with opportunities for shopping, socializing, and cultural activities. Permanent and temporary sign regulations, details of uses, seasonal markets, a farmers market, and a fountain will create a safe, vibrant, colorful sense of place.

Also part of the plan: a community center, medical center, day care and play area, fire station, plant nursery, faculty club, staff club, radio station, a student center, placement and training center, computer and data center, planetarium, and planning, engineering, architectural, utility, and maintenance buildings.

Today and tomorrow

Time will tell whether IIT Ropar's design is functional, practical, and harmonious and meets the vision. However, throughout the design process, the students, staff, administration, and faculty were supportive and helpful and deserve gratitude and recognition.

Institutions like IITs are being built in other countries as well. There are many unique opportunities awaiting American planners to share their experiences and expertise.

The Ropar project was professionally fulfilling and challenging, providing me with opportunities to blend American experience with local requirements and needs. Learning from other professionals, educating others, working together, and achieving goals for a harmonious and happy living is very exciting!

Harmit Bedi is an affiliate assistant professor at Georgia Gwinnett College.

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Resources

Images: Top — An aerial view of the campus. Image courtesy S.R. Sikka. Middle — Charrettes to identify stakeholder groups' needs were a valuable part of the process. Photo by Harmit Bedi. Bottom — The academic block is located at the center of campus, where buildings of classrooms and teaching theaters flank a large campus library. Photo courtesy S.R. Sikka.

Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret: The Indian Architecture by Sarbjit Bahga and Surinder Bahga, Createspace Independent Publishing, 2014.

Map by Dolly Holmes.