Torrent Research Centre, Ahmedabad

Speakers: Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel

October 19, 2000
Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai

Torrent Research Centre is a complex of buildings that facilitate pharmaceutical research. It has been designed by Nimish Patel and Parul Zaveri of Abhikram, with the help of Brian Ford of the U.K. to provide human comfort in many of its areas, with minimal use of electrical/mechanical energy, using Passive Downdraft Evaporating Cooling (P.D.E.C.). The inside temperatures in the summers vary between 28° – 31.5° C, when the outside temperatures rise as high as 44° C. This is perhaps one of the largest passive cooling experiments in the country and saves approximately Rs.60 lakhs per year in electricity bills as compared to a conventional building.