Mumbai: In a moment of architectural excellence, the Surat Diamond Bourse, boasting a colossal 6.7 million sq ft built-up area, secured the prestigious ‘Best Office Building’ award at the ongoing World Architecture Festival (WAF) held in Marine Bay Islands, Singapore.
Designed by Delhi-based architects Sonali and Manit Rastogi of Morphogenesis, the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) emerged victorious on Wednesday night at the WAF, an acclaimed annual global festival bringing together over 1,800 architects worldwide to showcase the finest-designed buildings across various categories.
The SDB, completed in April 2022, was recognized in the completed office buildings category. It stood out among 18 shortlisted buildings, including contenders like RCS Building in Hainan, China, the postal headquarters of Luxembourg, the Quatuor building in Brussels, Belgium, and the Surbana Jurong campus in Singapore. The SDB, with its nine towers of 15 storeys linked by 24 spine corridors housing over 4,200 offices, dominated in terms of sheer scale and size.
Surat, responsible for manufacturing 92% of the world’s natural diamonds, established the SDB as a one-stop hub for both manufacturing and trading. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to inaugurate this architectural marvel, constructed at a cost of ₹3,500 crore, on December 17.
Architect Manit Rastogi, speaking from Singapore, expressed joy at winning the ‘Office Building of the Year’ award. He likened the WAF to the World Economic Forum at Davos, emphasizing its significance in the global architecture and industry landscape.
Discussing the SDB project’s factors contributing to the award, Rastogi highlighted the challenge of designing for a cooperative of 4,700 diamond traders. The design aimed to foster both competition and cooperation among traders, offering an interesting and unique design brief.
One of the project’s major challenges was efficiently accommodating the movement of nearly 65,000 people in and out of the building within an hour. The building’s design, resembling a vertebra, reflects an efficient nervous system’s delivery of signals.
Rastogi emphasized the importance of natural light in the diamond business, leading to a design ensuring ample natural light for each office while avoiding direct sunlight. The building incorporates active and passive cooling techniques, reducing energy consumption by 50%. With an Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Platinum rating, the SDB sets an energy efficiency benchmark.
The Surat Diamond Bourse has not only become a symbol of architectural prowess but also a testament to sustainable and innovative design on the global stage.
