It was a prestigious project to work on for any architect as it was the Naval Academy in Ezhimala, Kannur in Kerala. It has been touted as the Indian Naval Academy?s most ambitious project, post-Independence. Namita Singh, one of the architects of Satnam Namita and Associates worked for a decade to finish this magnificent building; in the process earning the honour of being a woman architect in South East Asia to bag the biggest architecture project.
The site covers an area of 2,00,000 square metres including seven kilometres of beach land and seven peaks. Incidentally, Ezhimala means seven hills. The aim of the project was to consolidate the scattered training facilities across the country. It is now a training academy for 750 naval cadets, who will be imparted BTech level education.
Says Singh, ?We won this project in 1987 after competing in a two-stage national design competition conducted by Ministry of Defence, India in which over 40 firms competed. We made two trips to the site in Kerala to understand the local environment and then work on its design. We studied vernacular architecture to keep the natural beauty of the place intact and also visited South East Asian countries to study tropical Architecture.? A clay model of the entire project was made to make sure that all the specifications were perfect when construction began.
The project was a challenge on several counts. ?It was a virgin site with just one road running through it. Hence to create 300,000 lakh square feet of built up area, which met the functionality requirement of the Indian Navy without marring the beauty of the site was a challenge. The master plan has been made in a way that the academy exploits the magnificent sight of the mountains and the sea from every building. The complexes have been designed along the natural topography to avoid large-scale cutting or filling,? relates Singh.
In the Navy every person works together to form an indomitable whole and the buildings also reflect this. ?Each building has courtyards to provide natural ventilation to create a comfortable environment to suit the climate of Kerala. But when these buildings are seen as a whole it looks like a complete complex and not separate buildings. The master plan has been made in a way that the academy exploits the magnificent sight of the mountains and the sea from every building.?
The academy reflects the local colour and flavour in its design. Laterite, a local stone obtained and used in plenty in construction in Kerala was obtained from the site itself. Along with granite, these have been used in the construction of blocks and landscaping. ?This made the project economical and gave the buildings a lot more character,? explains Singh. Ceramic tiles have been used for the roofs of the prestigious buildings of the academy so that the local weather does not corrode the tiles. The roofs have also been colour coded according to the functionality of the building and also reflect the Navy?s colour ? blue.
The project was initially budgeted at Rs 500 crore. ?However, since it took close to a decade to build, the budget rose to about Rs 720 crore,? says Singh. Now that the project is over, how does Singh look upon her work? ?The Indian Naval Academy project is very close to my heart as it took me over a decade to create an orderly and compact academy without marring the unique beauty of the site. The planning and the architecture of the academy exploit the spectacular views of the mountains and the sea from every building. The wooded ridge line has been conserved by leaving the natural drainage courses unhindered to maintain ecological balance and the natural topography.?