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Rationalizing Complexities Ar. Biresh Shah
 

ARCHIPLAN             While the OPD/ Emergency / Library Building had its own specific requirements, its design was also used to solve several other added problems of the site.

NEPAL MEDICAL COLLEGE (NMC) is situated at Attarkhel of Jorpati Village Development Committee, in Kathmandu, at the northeast of Kathmandu City. The NMC Campus, which was started in 1997, comprises of the College and Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital. The early campus was rather modest, being housed in the premises of what once was a carpet factory in Attarkhel, Jorpati. Subsequently, the first new building to be constructed was a sixstoried 500 bed hospital building along the northern boundary of the site, which however provided mainly for inpatients’ of the Hospital. The campus
itself was a conglomeration of many makeshift buildings which accommodated various teaching and clinical facilities.

The purpose of establishing Nepal Medical College was to facilitate self reliance by Nepalese professionals in setting up a medical college and its teaching hospital. A first of its kind in Nepal with one hundred percent initiative taken by the Nepalese, the college aimed to provide education in health sciences, advanced hearth care services, and scientific research.

In 2004, ARCHIPLAN in association with CBC (P) Ltd., were engaged by NMC to design the remaining clinical facilities, the academic complex and to develop an overall master-plan of the Campus, incorporating current programs/activities and future needs. The Medical College currently operates a five-year MBBS Program, but it has future plans to run post-graduate MD programs, as well as other programs related to health services like medical technicians, nursing etc. It also hopes to develop as a centre for advanced research in the future, evolving into an independent Institute of Medical Sciences. With this objective in mind, the design for the buildings of the Nepal Medical College Campus respond to the requirements/ existing problems and future goals set out by NMC, and is developed from the very specific site conditions and the larger urban fabric, which is its setting.

The Master Plan
The Campus of the Nepal Medical College consists of about 75 ropanis (1 ropani = 508.92 sq.m) of land,
distributed on two adjacent yet physically separated sites, within two parallel main roads - the Jorpati-Sundarijal Road and the Chabahil Arubari Road - and joined by a connecting side road between these two
main roads. The site for NMCTH is actually two sites with a small track in between. The main area of the NMCTH site is an irregular shaped site consisting of several existing buildings, bounded on the west by a steeply pitching hillock perching precariously due to landslides. These two parcels of land were combined by orienting the main entrance of the hospital towards the west, and shaping the collapsing hillock to create a large space in front. The main water reservoir is also located at the top of this hillock.

While the site for the Academic Complex building is topographically quite complex, it has an area of about 40 ropanis, and has a direct access to the main road and sits parallel to the side road connecting the Teaching Hospital with Arubari Road. The topography of the site consists of three terraces connected by slopes of up to 30 meters level difference.

The main objective of the Master-plan was to set new buildings within the available landscape, as well as to rationalize the land profiles and circulation for future campus requirements. It should be noted, that while the NMC campus possesses sufficient land in terms of area, due to the irregular shape, existing land-use and complex topography, effective buildable area is quite limited. Therefore, the master-plan’s objective was also to evolve a synthesis of the building form and land form which make efficient use of land, exploit vistas, combine the building with a system of open spaces, articulate topographical features, establish green areas, plantation schemes, parking and vehicular movement. The master-plan also aimed to integrate the campus into the evolving urban fabric.

Architectural Expression
Since these buildings are large new building types being introduced in the city, any reference to preceding historical architectural styles has been avoided. The architectural composition and detailing of the buildings on NMC campus express the programme and its resolution on the site. Keeping with the purpose of these buildings, the architectural aesthetics is contemporary, yet the spirit in terms of massing, introduction of elements, developing a skyline, relationship to urban space building as signifier of urban space (rather than being set in isolation on a site), the main material (brick and plaster) allude to the spirit of the traditional cities of the Kathmandu Valley.

The OPD/Emergency/Library Building:
The first building undertaken for design was the OPD/Emergency/Library building. While this building had its own specific requirements, the design of this building was also used to solve several other added problems of the site and organize the campus plan as well. As the college was a functioning one, it was important to minimize demolition of the existing makeshift buildings. This meant that the actual available site would be rather limited in size while still having to address the large parking requirement of the campus. Hence, the building was not only so sited to address the functioning college but its design also used the topography of the site to create an open basement parking as site specific solutions. Similarly, the higher level of the site was developed to create a large urban space as a prominent entrance for the entire complex.

A steeply pitching hill on the west and a part of the campus, was experiencing multiple landslides. It was cut at an angle established by geo-technical engineers to stabilize it which also provided the opportunity to create the large urban space, thereby establishing a vital spatial link between the medical college buildings and the extant urban fabric around it. This relationship was further highlighted by elements, shapes and details of the buildings which provide an engaging backdrop. This urban design strategy, in a contemporary building, is drawn from the tradition of great squares of the Malla cities. The large urban space of the campus is now The OPD building accommodates 12 out-patient departments, the emergency facilities, the faculty parking directly below the emergency which can double as a large space for mass casualties management, the Department of Radiology, a diagnostic centre, a large library for the students as well as faculty, classrooms, and a multipurpose hall for hosting events.

bounded by a sloping hill side on the west and the new OPD/Emergency/ Library building on the east. The façade of the new building was designed to offer a memorable architectural backdrop which also marks a strong entrance to the central space of the building inside. The architectural design distributes the overall volume of this large building into a variety of interlocking masses and elements, specifically the clock-tower, the semi-circular vault and the curving steel roof over the entrance. This is a conscious design strategy to provide the building with appropriate scale, a rich visual experience in front of the Square, as well as gestures towards the surrounding urban landscape. The OPD building itself functions as the main entrance to the entire clinical complex of NMC and accommodates 12 out-patient departments, the emergency facilities, the faculty parking directly below the emergency which can double as a large space for mass casualties management, the Department of Radiology, a diagnostic centre, a large library for the students as well as faculty, classrooms, and a multipurpose hall for hosting events. The building plan is organized to offer a large central space which is skylit. This space allows natural lighting and crossventilation to all parts of the building. It also provides a grand entrance space to the entire hospital and has since become the nerve centre of all movement in the spiralling hospital complex.

The ground floor consists of the Emergency complex, the reception and records, four Out-patient departments consisting of Medicine, Surgery, Orthopaedics and Gynaecology; while the first floor has the remaining eight out-patient departments consisting of ENT, Opthamology, Paediatrics, community medicine, dentistry, psychiatry, and physical therapy.

Academic Building Complex
Although the site allocated for the Academic building was nearly 35 ropanis, its topography was rather complex. However, the building has been designed to engage with the topographically complex site in a purposeful manner to rationalise circulation, create strong access points, shape outdoor spaces and connect the different levels of the site into a meaningful whole. The architectural design of the buildings was used as a medium to establish a matrix of building form and open space, much in the tradition of our historic cities. The building design of the Academic Complex consists of a long four storey block parallel to the road at the northern side of the top terrace, which is also the highest level of the site. The two main entrances of the building located at two opposite ends , are connected by a wide corridor, which opens towards a large open field to the south side, opening out to a panoramic view of the city. Six 100-seat lecture theatres open onto this wide corridor, which is really the main circulation spine of the entire complex, as well as the principal social space. The upper levels of this long block are occupied by six of the basic science departments. The upper floors are thematically planned as having faculty rooms on the south side facing the large open space below, towards the views and the Sun. The northern side is occupied by the major teaching laboratories, which also facilitates efficient delivery of service for the laboratories and the access to parking at ground level for supplies. The middle part consists of smaller special labs and class rooms, which are lit and ventilated by two small courtyards. On either side of this long building block two wings of the academic complex step down into the sloping land. A third entrance to the building is located at the south eastern end at lower level, to provide access from the main parking in the small valley below.

Each department is provided with a seminar room cum library, while the Central Library of the Medical College has already been provided in the OPD building. The design has been prepared to offer ease of access, a congenial learning environment, clear and efficient circulation system, maximize natural light, ventilation and sunlight into various facilities. Covered and surface parking for an entire range of vehicles is planned for in the Master plan. Each part of the complex is accessible to vehicles, thus easing services and maintenance. Ample outdoor space is planned to create space for large events as well as socialization and recreation. The total floor area covered by the proposed design of the Academic Complex is 13,420 sq. mts.

The requirements of the building complex have been developed to be compatible with the requirements of Nepal Medical Council, The Medical Council of India, and the specific
requirements of the Faculty of the Medical College. Several rounds of discussions were held with the faculty of the eight basic sciences departments to develop the design program and the floor plans of each department.

The Academic Building phase-1 accommodates seven basic sciences departments of the Medical College, for running the MBBS program currently, and to accommodate the future growth of the Medical College into a premier centre of advanced studies of Health Sciences in Nepal. It consists of the Departments of Anatomy, Pathology, Bio- Chemistry, Micro-biology, Physiology, Community Medicine and Pharmacology. Each department has been allocated Faculty rooms, a seminar room-cum library, demonstration rooms, teaching/clinical laboratories as required, special laboratories for PG students and research. The Department of Anatomy, which comprises of the Dissection Hall, have been located at one end of the Site easily accessible to service vehicles. Each upper floor of the main building is occupied by two departments. All the spaces required by each department are allocated at one level and occupy one end of the building floor.

Besides the academic facilities of the basic sciences departments, the Academic Complex consists of the following facilities: eight lecture theatres with 100 seat capacity each; a 200 seat examination / lecture hall ; a 500 seat auditorium with modern projection and stage facilities (Within the overall design, the system of Lecture theatres and the main Auditorium is planned to facilitate the hosting of national and international medical conferences at the College); an academic Administration Building, an integrated Museum of Health Sciences; student facilities common rooms; a cafeteria(the cafeteria building, designed as a social space in the College campus is set into the sloping land parallel to the auditorium. It can be accessed from the lower lobby of the administration building or directly from the large open space on the south and offers cafeteria facilities at two levels for students and faculty, which can open onto the nearby terraces outside).

The Academic building complex is to be constructed in two phases. Phase-1 has been completed, while construction for Phase-2, consisting of the Academic Administration Building and the Auditorium building, is yet to start.

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