| Project at a Glance: | |
| Project Name: | Pacific Mall |
| Location: | Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India |
| Client: | Pacific Development Corporation Ltd. |
| Architect & Interior Designer: | Bentel Associates |
| Other Consultants | |
| Graphic Designer- | Satyam Enterprises |
| Lighting Designer- | In-house |
| Landscape Architect- | Dilkhush Rose Farm |
| Area: | 230,410 sq.ft. |
| Cost: | Approximate 75 crores |
The site....
Dehradun is a beautiful town that is located in the Doon Valley surrounded by the Shivalik Hills, a mountain range of the outer Himalayas. The Doon city is famous for its natural scenic beauty, which includes some visually attractive landscapes and enjoyable climate.
The three acre site on Dun - Mussourie road having an 85 m frontage with a picturesque backdrop of Mussourie hills posed quite a challenge from its topography; a 17m drop in North West side of the site.
The built mass....
The solution was to exploit the natural contours of the land parcel to be used in the development scheme. The 17m steep drop was best utilised by providing two sub structure parking levels, thus minimising the excavation required and optimising cost compared to a conventional basement. Basement area being planned along the contour is naturally lit & ventilated. A precise and efficient parking design allowed for a hassle free parking experience to the customer with a direct connectivity to and from the mall into the parking levels.
The rise of the contours on the western side of the plot allowed the design firm 'Bentel Associates' to create a mall entry at the first level of the centre in addition to the southern corner entrance on grade, offering a balanced distribution of the footfalls entering the mall. The retail needed to rise up to the second floor in order to achieve the bulk required by the product mix.
The emphasis was to create multiple gathering spaces in the centre. 10,000 sq.ft. rectangular atrium space is planned at the centre of the mall footprint that easily connects shops at each level and also acts as a large indoor promotional space. The rectangular piazza space is tilted not only to create dynamism but also to achieve variation in shop sizes required for good tenant mix. This enclosed plaza is well connected to the street at ground and first floor by long-stepped outdoor piazza and is easily accessible to shoppers.
Indoor plaza space with fashion anchors and vanilla shops is more trade-focused with leisure, relaxed and reposing ambience of outdoor piazza and restaurants, cafè makes a perfect offering.
Third floor triple volume space food court overlooking the main atrium volume is long linear street and has a view over Masuri Hills on North-West side. With large volume space, diffused natural light, and International food brands the food court is already a popular destination.
Interior Design....
Objective was to enhance concept of Large Piazza and create neutral backdrop for shopfronts. Warm colour pallet with shades of Badge, Grey and Timber is used throughout the mall.
Shopfront demising columns are expressed with natural sand stone clad. Badge matt tiles with dark granite border at shops for mall flooring, natural sandstone for demising wall and badge and white ceiling create warm feel. This is further enhanced by hardwood hand rail and timber cladding for columns and escalators.
Sandstone portal at ground level at the atrium edge and double height grey granite portal connecting two levels are few elements introduced to break the monotony of atrium Bulkhead. Coloured murals, linear colour bands above food court, flowerbeds and flagpoles add vibrancy to the overall interior spaces.
With restrictions on floor heights all services are routed within the shops to achieve maximum possible height in the mall corridors.
Triple volume space of the food court being long and narrow is conceptualised as a high street with alfresco seating. Steel columns within food court are treated as back lit timber lanterns. These lantern features along with street lights, benches, bollards and colourful flower cut-outs suspended from ceiling and hotel corridor windows at floor above, give typical street piazza look to the food court. Large volume space, diffused natural light, colour- full backdrop of murals and suspended feature, valley view are few unique attributes of this space.
The lighting, indoor air quality and public health....
Built to maximize the utilization of natural light, the building uses a minimum of interior columns with a diagonally tilted central atrium sporting a clear storey soft roof, shading the building from direct solar radiation.At the same time, good lighting design is spread beyond the realm of visual appeal to lower the energy costs and heat gain.
The HVAC system is designed in such a manner that the outside enthalpy conditions of the city shall be used to keep the centre conditioned for half the operational time with use of minimal energy.
A sewage treatment plant to generate recycled water and its reuse in gardening and air conditioning make up are adopted in the building to conserve natural water resource and reduce refuse disposal.
The fabric canopy and signage band cut the vision angle and help in reducing the built form scale. The upper building mass is treated in horizontal plaster bands finished in alternate shades of grey.
