About a decade ago when learning management company NIIT first got a piece of land from the Rajasthan government to set up a university, its chairman and co-founder Rajendra Pawar met with sympathetic looks. For this was terribly sandy terrain. The land was uncultivable, heavily contoured, deeply fissured, and located in an area where temperatures soared past 45 degrees in summer, with water hard to come by.

Today, NIIT University at Neemrana, Rajasthan has emerged as one of the greenest campuses in the country, self sufficient in water and highly energy efficient with a unique cooling system that uses very little electricity. Ringed by the billion year old Aravali hills, the university that delivers B.Tech, M.Tech and Biotechnology courses, is an oasis of green learning. The rule is that nobody who visits can leave the campus without planting a sapling.

Two 80-year old trees of the Salvadora Oleiodes species at the entrance of the campus articulate the story of NU’s connect with nature. Rather than cut the Jaal Pilu, as the locals call them, a protective wall was built around them and the road was built around it. “I issued a warning that anyone who cuts even a branch of the tree will have to donate a thumb,” says Pawar.

Looking back on the tough days of construction, Pawar says that when he surveyed the 100 acres of land, the drama in the setting appealed to him. His brief to the architect – Professor Vinod Gupta of Space Design Consultants, who created India’s first intelligent building, the CMC office in Mumbai -- was not to flatten the land but to integrate the contours into the buildings. As you tour the university, you see how basements have been fitted into the fissures, ampitheatres crafted in natural bowls, and multi-level courtyards with interesting plays of light created.

Although the architectural firm was engaged first, it was not allowed to start work until a master-planner was hired. “This was advice given to me by a college mate from IIT. He said just like a city, a campus should have a master plan. And that has made all the difference,” says Pawar. London-based firm YRM Consultants, who not only had experience in university design but had also worked in hot arid zones, were chosen.

The master-planners, the architects, landscapists (Shaheer Associates from Delhi), and the NU’s own project management team led by Air Commodore (retd) Kamal Singh worked together to create the zoning, indicative footprints, and phasing strategy. Their brief was that the finalMaster Plan should adhere to the NU core principles of seamlessness and sustainability, while creating a blueprint for a campus that could potentially accommodate 7,500 full time students, two-thirds of whom would be resident, 600 academic staff and roughly 175 administrative staff.

Actually, when they did hydrological testing of the area, it showed a far lower number of people could be accommodated due to lack of water availability. To overcome the challenge, NU invested in water recycling and harvesting. Bunds were created to harvest and store water from nearby hillocks. Extensive tree planting was done. Kamal Singh points to narrow canals where run-offs from roofs and buildings are captured and flow.

Today, seven years after the university launched, there are 1200 students on campus. The way things are progressing Pawar is confident it will be able to accommodate 12000 students at some point. “Our buildings are continuously learning and evolving. The green cover is expanding. We had started the project with an undertaking to the government that we would green a few hundred metres of forest land. Now, I am confident we will be greening 1,000 acres including the hillocks,” he says.

Green air-conditioning

The stand out feature of the university is its geothermal cooling system that draws air from under the earth. As Singh explains, 12 feet beneath the earth, temperatures remain a constant 24 degrees, so why not harness the cool air there. So, all along the campus you will see little towers sticking out. These are where air enters the intricate network of earth tunnels (nearly 16 km long) and is cleaned and circulated. They are then washed with water in a system akin to the desert coolers. “Tunnels bring the air temperature down by 12 degrees, the water washing reduces it a further 14 degrees so in all 26 degrees air temperature is taken away,” says Singh.

The impact is further boosted by clever architectural features in Gupta’s building design. The large glass windows are all East-West oriented to trap maximum sunlight even as fresh air comes into the rooms through L-shaped shafts, keeping out the dust. Gupta has also relied on traditional features like jharokhas (enclosed balconies that jut forwards), verandahs and ventilation chimneys to keep buildings cool.

There are water chillers on campus but these are used only during the humid season. “The rest of the year we rely on elementary ways by using water and earth and we have shown it’s possible to find comfort in innovative ways,” he says.

The campus is “pedestrian only” with cars restricted to the parking bay at the entrance. From there one has to navigate the campus on foot via the “spine” – a central lane - that meanders through various building blocks and seamlessly unifies the campus.

To create a further feeling of seamlessness, there are no boundary walls in the campus. Instead landscaping innovations like ‘Ha-Ha’ (this is a sort of trench, the inner side of which is vertical and faced with stone, with the outer face sloped making it like a retaining wall) create a natural barrier while keeping views intact.

Finally, as Singh points out, thanks to all these measures, indoor air quality is really fresh. “Our spaces where we live and work do not have recycled air. Students have lived here and enjoyed the freshness. It gives them a hearty appetite.”

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