How Sanjay Puri Architects Crafted An Engaging Academic Landscape At Prestige University, India

Project Info

Project Name: Prestige University

Location: Madhya Pradesh, India

Architect: Sanjay Puri Architects

At the heart of Indore’s expanding academic belt, Sanjay Puri Architects has envisioned and developed a striking new educational building for Prestige University that redefines how institutional architecture can engage both climate and community. Far from being a purely functional edifice, the project becomes a usable landscape - a structure that encourages movement, interaction and environmental responsiveness throughout its form and spaces.

A Stepped Architecture That Becomes Place

Rather than presenting a monolithic envelope, the university’s new building steps up gradually from its northern approach, softening its overall 28-metre height into a series of terraces and platforms that extend the campus terrain vertically. This stepped mass transforms the upper surfaces into a fully accessible rooftop landscape - a public stage where students and faculty can gather, study, socialize or watch campus events.

The structure’s five levels are thoughtfully organized to support both everyday academic life and large gatherings. The roof system of 463 interconnected platforms spans approximately 9,000 square metres, accommodating informal circulation as well as grand-scale seating for events with capacities up to around 9,000 people.

How Sanjay Puri Architects Crafted An Engaging Academic Landscape At Prestige University, India — Photograph: WAD

Hundreds of interconnected platforms form a cascading roofscape

The stepped roofscape shapes a walkable landscape, transforming the academic building into a public gathering ground

Spatial Diversity Within and Without

Internally, the building integrates a continuous diagonal indoor street - a defining circulation spine that threads the programmatic zones together and facilitates natural airflow deep into the plan. Landscaped courtyards punctuate the mass, drawing indirect daylight into classroom clusters, study spaces and communal zones without exposing interiors to harsh direct sun.

Program functions are arranged thoughtfully by level: the ground floor hosts shared facilities such as the cafeteria, auditorium and administrative offices; library spaces occupy the first level, connected by a bridge spanning the indoor street; general classrooms sit on the second floor; tiered lecture rooms on the third; and faculty and administrative functions atop the fourth level.

A diagonal “indoor street” links classrooms, library spaces and shared facilities while encouraging natural ventilation

A brick-lined courtyard creates shaded circulation and informal gathering spaces within the stepped campus building

Context and Climate at the Core

A principal driver of the design is environmental performance, especially critical given Indore’s challenging climate, where temperatures often hover between 30°C and 40°C for much of the year. By embedding north-facing light strategies and courtyard logic drawn from traditional Indian architecture, the building exploits passive cooling and daylighting, reducing reliance on artificial systems.

The east, west and southern facades are wrapped in ventilated screens, composed of brick or GFRC, to mitigate solar heat gain while allowing breezes to pass through. Coupled with natural ventilation corridors and shaded outdoor pockets, this strategy enhances comfort while encouraging low-energy operation.

Ventilated facade screens wrap the east, west and south elevations, filtering harsh sunlight while allowing airflow through the structure

Courtyards and terraces blur the boundary between indoor learning spaces and outdoor circulation routes

Landscape and Social Integration

Beyond climate strategy, the project’s social logic is central to its spatial impact. By transforming essentially every level of the building into an outdoor-usable space, the architecture fosters serendipitous interactions, collaborative learning, and informal social life that traditionally happens only in outdoor quads or courtyards. This blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior, academic and communal.

The stepped roofscape also echoes the ancient Indian tradition of stepwells - structures where descending and ascending platforms blend utility with place for community gathering. Here, that historical reference is reinterpreted as an elevated civic realm, marrying heritage spatial strategies with contemporary needs.