Its new campus is located in Indore, a city in Madhya Pradesh, India Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects challenges the conventional image of the academic building. Rather than asserting itself as a monumental object, the work reshapes and inhabits the landscape. Its most impressive feature – and what makes it a potentially replicable model – is a system of 463 tiered platforms that rise diagonally from the ground, turning the roof into a suspended public space where students can walk, sit and gather. The result is nothing less than a modern amphitheater capable of accommodating up to 9,000 people at once.
In a climate where temperatures range between 30°C and 40°C for most of the year, the building exceeds the functional requirements of a university campus. It becomes both an environmental device and a social platform. Here, architecture works as climatic infrastructures— redefining how educational spaces are inhabited, shared and experienced.
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Prestige University by Sanjay Puri Architects @ Vinay Panjwani
Placed within a master plan of 32 hectares, the 28 meter high volume deliberately avoids monumentality. Rather than a vertical block or single object, it unfolds as a sequence of staggered levels along a diagonal axis. This design move dissolves the perception of the building as a closed entity, turning it into a continuous extension of the ground from which it emerges. The boundaries between built form and landscape are gradually fading.
The project draws inspiration from traditional Indian wells, known as baoliwhich have been part of the region’s culture for over a thousand years. These structures were not only used to collect water but also served as social gathering places. Here, this spatial logic is reinterpreted as a modern educational infrastructure, where the collective dimension becomes both central and fundamental.
The roof is the most radical element of the project: 463 stepped platforms that form around 9,000 square meters of accessible roof garden. It is not just a green roof, but an elevated public realm designed to host events, collaborative learning and informal social interactions. Parts of the surface are also designed to be accessible to people with reduced mobility, reinforcing the project’s inclusive approach.
Inside, the building is conceived as a fluid and interconnected system. A covered diagonal road crosses the entire volume, acting as a spatial backbone connecting different functions and levels. The ground floor houses administrative and communal areas, including a food court and auditorium. The first floor houses the library, which is connected via a bridge that spans the central space. The middle levels house classrooms and broadcast areas for informal interaction, while the upper levels include tiered classrooms and faculty spaces.
This organization is not hierarchical in the traditional sense, but dynamic, unfolding as a continuous sequence of connected environments. Landscaped courtyards, distributed throughout the section, bring in indirect natural light and promote ventilation, improving the overall environmental quality.
viability here it is not an addition but a direct consequence of the form. Passive strategies are integrated into the architecture: the orientation maximizes natural light, courtyards reduce heat gain and reflection, and natural ventilation is guided by the internal diagonal street – which acts as an air channel – along with sectional offsets that promote the upward movement of warm air. The result is a building designed to significantly reduce reliance on mechanical cooling and artificial lighting, responding to – and protecting against – a harsh climate.
Beyond its functional complexity, Prestige Universityy emerges as an urban space. It is not just a university campus, but an open urban infrastructure where academic, public and landscape dimensions intersect. The ground becomes a square, the roof becomes a park and the interior spaces become spaces for movement and meeting. In this sense, the project integrates learning, events, environment and social life into a single architectural system, challenging the traditional definitions of the university building.
This approach reflects his broader research Sanjay Puri Architectsled by Sanjay Puri along with Ruchika Gupta and Madhavi Belsare. The studio’s work is based on a contextual methodology, where each project emerges from the interaction between climate, culture and social use. Internationally recognized for its focus on sustainable and innovative design, the practice operates at different scales – from urban design to public architecture – always with a strong emphasis on the spatial experience.
At Prestige University, this philosophy takes shape as an architecture that transcends the concept of a traditional educational building. Instead, it becomes an extension of the ground itself, a dynamic landscape where architecture and site merge and learning unfolds as a spatial, collective experience.
