A public amphitheatre tops the Library Block. Wide steps rise from the university’s central square, leading to a plaza at the uppermost level, creating a vast, tiered public space that cultivates a vibrant social landscape.
Located in Warangal, an emerging IT hub in the southern Indian state of Telangana, S. R. University enrols over 20,000 engineering students each year. The 57-acre campus offers courses across numerous faculties through the Computer Science Engineering Institute, Technology Business Incubator (SRIX), and two primary academic blocks. Other amenities at the campus comprise a student housing complex for over 5000 students, a dining block for this residential population, and a sports block equipped to host national-level tournaments. Within this context, the Library Block is designed as a vital ‘third place’ for students, offering a vibrant public space that nurtures social interaction beyond the academic and residential realms. Evolving past its traditional role as a repository for books, the Library Block is integral to realising the master planning vision for the university—creating a unified live-learn-play environment that fosters well-rounded social, physical, and academic development for students.
Centrally located within the campus along the main east-west circulation route/thoroughfare, the Library Block is positioned to be conveniently accessible to pedestrians from all directions, including the SRIX building and Academic Block 1 to the west, Academic Block 2, sports block, and hostels to the south, and the Computer Science Engineering Institute to the north.
Library as the Third Place: Extending Social Activities of University’s Central Square
Building upon American urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s work on ‘third places’—informal public gathering places apart from homes and workplaces—the two-storeyed Library Block is designed as the social heart of the campus.
Located at the eastern edge of the university’s central square, the building is topped with a landscaped amphitheatre. Wide steps rise from the square, leading to a plaza at the uppermost level, creating a vast, tiered public space that extends the university’s social environment. The amphitheatre, with seating for about 1,500 students, is designed to accommodate both large and small gatherings of native trees, planted along the steps, create shaded nooks ideal for informal conversations, group meetings, and spontaneous music sessions among smaller groups. The rooftop space also serves as a flexible venue for larger community events, such as convocation ceremonies or open-air hackathons for over 600 participants.
The main library, with book stacks and reading areas, is nestled below the stepped roof. A large opening in the rooftop plaza allows daylight to filter into the lower-level courtyard, illuminating the reading areas. Six lecture halls and a spacious seminar hall, with a combined capacity of up to 900 students, are planned along the northern and western edges of the amphitheatre across both levels, providing additional academic spaces that can be shared across multiple faculties as needed. The rooftop plaza serves as a spillover space for the lecture halls.
Ensuring Comfort and Energy Efficiency Through Passive Design Strategies
The university architecture design addresses Warangal’s predominantly hot and dry climate through a series of passive design interventions aimed at reducing heat gain and optimising natural light and ventilation.
The stepped roof shields the interiors from the harsh western sun, while dense vegetation and the mutual shading provided by the Academic Block 2 protect the southern facade. Lecture halls are strategically located at the northern edge of the amphitheatre to benefit from glare-free light throughout their length. A verandah further reduces heat ingress into the lecture halls.
A large skylight brings ample natural light into the courtyard of the ground-floor library. Similarly, the verandah along the lecture halls and seminar halls features full-height aluminium fins set at a 45-degree angle, which block the harsh southwestern sun and rain and allow diffused daylight to enter the spaces. The landscape strategy for the amphitheatre incorporates indigenous vegetation and creates shaded pockets throughout the entire area, ensuring an open public space that can be used by students throughout the year.
These measures create a thermally comfortable environment for all users while reducing energy consumption significantly.
SR University - Library Block
Educational Architecture I Warangal, Telangana
Client SR Educational Trust
Area 70,000 sq.ft
Status Ongoing
Team Shimul Javeri Kadri, Vaishali Mangalvedhekar, Sarika Shetty, Anushri Nivin, Harshini Yohee, Meet Mendpara, Arunima Dhubey
Graphics Shruti Yelane, Aastha Sinha, Nidhi Dhamnaskar
Renders Black Ink Studio
