Education architecture: Case study of Sparkrill International School in Warangal, Telangana

Written by Vaishali Mangalvedhekar

A Case Study on how school can be designed as active educators

As one of the several sustainable architecture firms in India, our approach reimagines campuses as living classrooms where nature and built form work together as educators. Being architects for schools , we believe that the design of schools must go beyond functional buildings to become nurturing environments that spark imagination, curiosity, and well-being with Sparkrill International School being an example of the same.

Schools shaped as active educators

In a sociocultural landscape that often promotes rote learning, the design for Sparkrill International School demonstrates how architects for schools and education architecture firms can reimagine pedagogy through built form. Moving beyond conventional classrooms, the school facilitates informal and exploratory learning by leveraging nature and the built environment as educators.

Warangal, a Tier-II city in Telangana located 150 km from Hyderabad, India’s major IT hub, has in recent years witnessed an influx of the IT industry. This growth has led to the establishment of numerous educational institutions focused on preparing young students for competitive exams and IT careers. However, in such a system, higher education architecture firms often find themselves grappling with an inherited emphasis on exam success over curiosity, imagination, and creativity. Built environments mirror this priority, resulting in monotonous and restrictive spaces that reduce students to passive recipients of knowledge.

Amidst this backdrop, Sparkrill International School offers a different vision. Designed as a residential school spread across 28 acres, it hosts around a thousand students with facilities including two academic blocks for primary and secondary grades, a common arts and dining block, outdoor sports areas, staff quarters, a hostel for 200 students, science labs, and a library. Drawing on the ethos of sustainable architecture firms, the design integrates appropriately scaled outdoor spaces that extend learning beyond the classroom walls. These environments encourage exploratory learning immersed in nature, layered with distinct functions to nurture students’ social, emotional, and physical well-being.

Masterplanning : Prioritising safe & comfortable outdoor spaces

The masterplan prioritises walkability, safety, and comfort by integrating natural features like rock formations, boulders, and water channels into campus life. Rooted in sustainable design, large public spaces—such as the cricket field, entrance plaza, water harvesting pond, and football field—are arranged along the north-south axis with buildings clustered around them. Trees and varied building heights provide shade and thermal comfort, while centrally embedding active public spaces ensures ‘eyes on the street,’ fostering safety, community, and vibrant student life.

Natural features guide orientation and identity across the campus, with the main access road curving around the cricket pitch toward a central rock formation at the academic plaza. Primary and secondary wings flank the plaza, while the arts and dining block sits by the rainwater pond, linking academic and residential zones. Hostel and staff blocks near the football field enable safe outdoor play, and compact building placement promotes walkability—reflecting a sustainable architecture that creates healthy, connected, community-driven spaces.

Informal Learning Environments : Shaped by Nature & Built Form

The design seeks to leverage nature and the built environment as educators alongside traditional classroom settings by facilitating a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor spaces across the campus.

Inspired by the vernacular urban planning of Rajasthani cities, with their shaded streets and organic layouts for hot, dry climates, the masterplan scales down courtyards into interconnected streets between two-storeyed classroom blocks. Oriented east-west to harness prevailing winds, these streets vary in width—6 m for circulation, 8 m for play and discussions, and 11 m for congregation with steps, boulders, and trees. This approach introduces an element of play, steering away from rigidity blending child-friendly planning with the principles of sustainable architecture as Habibe Acar notes in his paper, “Learning Environments for Children in Outdoor Spaces” :

“Play recognises and develops a child’s talents and creative potential; increases linguistic, mental, social, emotional, and motor skills; provides learning opportunities through trial and experience that will be required throughout their lifetime. In this way, learning can be realised permanently. Outdoor spaces are the best play environments for children. These areas offer opportunities that are not found in indoor spaces, and the physical environment contributes to children’s learning with its affordances.”

Natural features such as indigenous plants, boulders, rainwater channels, and water spouts enrich the streets, encouraging exploration and experiential learning. Seasonal interactions, like sailing paper boats in rainwater channels, help children intuitively grasp ecological systems. In doing so, the project showcases how education architecture rooted in sustainable architecture can create a child-centric environment where creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration thrive.

Comfortable Learning Environments Through Passive Design

In Warangal, where summer temperatures reach 42°C, thermal comfort in educational buildings is essential. As S. Subhashini and K. Thirumaran note, heat stress disrupts focus and learning capacity for both teachers and students. Responding to this climatic context, the indoor learning spaces at Sparkrill International School employ several passive design strategies to optimize natural light and ventilation for students’ thermal comfort and physical well-being.

The two-storeyed classroom blocks are oriented north–south with curved roofs. North-facing windows admit glare-free daylight, while deep south overhangs shade corridors to reduce heat gain. Ventilators ensure cross-ventilation, maintaining comfort without air-conditioning. Flexible furniture layouts further support both individual and collaborative learning.

De-scaling The Built Environment

Several design considerations are made to ensure safety and a sense of emotional comfort for young students, especially those living away from their families. The design integrates principles of salutogenic design theory, which focuses on improving salutary (health-promoting) factors along with reducing stress, to create a supportive environment.

On the ground floor, window sill heights are lowered to 0.45 metres—half the conventional height—allowing

young children to engage visually with the outdoors. On the upper floor corridors, the curved roof drops to 1.9 metres, creating intimate, child-friendly proportions. Street scales across the campus are also modulated for comfort, safety, and usability. Together, these interventions highlight how sustainable architecture can shape nurturing educational spaces that foster well-being and joyful learning.

In addition, every railing is carefully crafted to be 1.2 metres tall, with vertical balusters spaced minimally to safeguard children from accidents while still allowing for transparency. The material and colour palette comprises natural Kota stone, terracotta clay roofing tiles, and pops of bright colours across the campus, adding a touch of warmth and softness to the built environment.

The hostel is also designed to evoke a feeling of home and warmth. The floors are planned as large, open dormitories with half-height partitions—children are provided with a private, cosy corner while still being able to peek over and interact with their friends. Single and double-height volumes perforate the linear building blocks, creating weather- protected and safe terraces for students to gather or play board/indoor games. These terraces are also accentuated with bright colours to infuse playfulness and a sense of place.

Inculcating sustainability awareness

As part of the school’s commitment to sustainable architecture, 100% of the classrooms and circulation areas are naturally ventilated and daylit for most of the day. Passive, climate-responsive strategies ensure that both indoor and outdoor spaces remain thermally comfortable without relying on air conditioning, even in the hot and dry climate of Warangal. This not only enhances student well-being but also results in significant savings in operational energy costs, reinforcing the long-term value of sustainable design.

The campus also integrates on-site water and waste management systems to encourage ecological balance and sustainable living. Rainwater harvesting ponds at the site’s lowest levels minimise runoff and support percolation, while porous brick pavers and consolidated soil recharge groundwater. Reed beds near the dining block treat wastewater for irrigation, and a kitchen garden with composting pits teaches students practical methods of recycling and cultivation.

As one of the sustainable architecture firms in Mumbai, SJK Architects continues to craft spaces that empower communities, enrich well-being, and cultivate lifelong learning. In doing so, we affirm our belief that schools are not just places of instruction, but environments that nurture resilient, joyful, and curious generations.

Read more about this project at Sparkrill International School.