Sorg Architects

Skyon

Gurgaon, India

The New Delhi satellite city of Gurgaon is the center of a rapidly expanding metropolitan area that has seen significant commercial development in recent years, which has outpaced progress on infrastructure and municipal support structures. Finding inspiration from a city still struggling to define its own urban context was a key challenge for Suman Sorg, in the design of Skyon, a large-scale, mixed-use, multifamily residential project. For this commission, Suman understood that controlled density could provide an opportunity for the community to flourish and breathe life into the commercial and urban explosion of the past two decades.

Skyon is a 22-acre sustainable residential development composed of five 9- to 13-story buildings and one 40-story iconic tower, all organized around a community green space. The slender and elegant residential tower that anchors the site’s western edge is a composition of four stacked units radiating from a rectangular core. The organization of the tower plan is akin to a pinwheel and is based on the Hindu symbol for good luck. This simple geometry enables each unit to have unobstructed views in three directions.

Balconies are modulated on the façade to create an undulating origami that provides visual interest and movement to the elevation as well as optimal sun-shading. This generous use of balconies, which rhythmically shifts from floor to floor, echoes the tower form, creating a dynamic visual foundation upon which the contrasting forms of the slender tower and clubhouse are enhanced.

The clubhouse is located at the center of the communal green and is conceived as a low-lying pavilion, partially sunken and belonging more to the landscape than to its neighboring buildings. The minimal sculptural form of the clubhouse is central to the design of this urban oasis that is intended to impart human scale and organization to an otherwise cacophonous environment.

Awards
World Architecture Festival, Future Projects: Residential Shortlisted, 2013