Stepwell Library
The reading rooms go down, not up. It is eleven degrees cooler at the bottom.
A-203 · Perspective from the north-east · massing only
- Programme
- Public library and reading garden
- Floor area
- 3,410 m²
- Height to parapet
- 14.60 m
- Storeys
- 4
- Structural bays
- 7
- Status
- Under construction · 2026
Ahmedabad's stepwells solved heat with depth and shadow long before anyone drew a section for a library. We borrowed the move directly: the stacks descend four levels around a planted well, and every desk sits on a landing rather than a floor plate.
Air enters at the garden, drops through the void, and leaves at the roof. Mechanical cooling serves the rare-books room only.
Handover to the municipal library board is scheduled for spring 2026.
Team
Ira Menon
Design lead
Devang Shah
Project architect
Vann Studio
Landscape
Ahmedabad Municipal Library Board
Client
Materials
Furthest: Perforated brass screens — 214 km
How it went
- February 2021
Won the municipal competition with a section, not a render.
- March 2022
Excavation. Four levels down, eleven degrees cooler at the bottom.
- September 2025
Brass screens hung. The first patina was too bright.
- Spring 2026
Handover to the library board, scheduled.