“Loop Within” is a re-imagination of these abandoned grounds with the aim to integrate them with the urban fabric and bring back life to the abandoned structures.

Patiala is an old historic city where the new city has grown around historic ruins that have become abandoned relics within the fabric of the city. The Top Khana and Hatti Khana Gates and their fortification are example of these relics where the enclosed land that once used to house war elephants and canon, is a vast empty land today. Reviving the pathway connecting the two gates, a student housing project is imagined as a transition between the residential neighborhood near Top Khana to the educational hub hear Hatti Khana. The ruins of the two gates are restored and re imagined as nodes within the fabric that draw the people in to the project to help establish ties with the community such that the community develops a sense of ownership for the gates while the students have a sense of belonging. The hostels along the meandering pathway are a re-imagination of the regional typology of courtyard. The loops create a sense of enclosure within for the students while it also acts a passive shading strategy for the courtyard.

Designed as a continuous ramp, the building lifts off from the ground plane and curates a private looped pathway that houses the 25 private hostel rooms while connecting the programs on the ground plane to the Mess that spills onto the roof plane. Semi-private balconies acting as spill out gathering spaces, puncture the ramp through which the private rooms are entered. The loop creates within itself an hierarchy of semi-open spaces. To shade the interiors from the hot harsh climate, a facade of brick jali, intrinsic to the region, was introduced. Depending on the publicness of the program, the jalis was modulated to create bigger openings within it. Supported by a concrete virendeel girder anchored by 4 thick columns at the ends, the loop floats in sections that allows the courtyard to spill out while giving it a sense of enclosure. The section of the loop is staggered such that it creates a band of skylights for the lower level public program towards the outer side while creating a shaded walkway within the courtyard.