How Blacxird Designed the Aluminium Facade for Virutcham Hospital

A hospital is often the first building a neighbourhood trusts with its health, and its front face sets the tone before anyone walks in. Virutcham Hospital in Ayapakkam, Chennai began as a block under scaffolding and green netting, waiting for that face. The client, Rahul Kumar KG, wanted a sleek, modern and durable aluminium facade. Blacxird Industries designed it, led by Project Architect AR. V.K. Subramaniam, from the existing structure through a perforated panel layout and rendered options. Today the perforated aluminium screen is on the building.

The Brief

The client’s ask was short: a new aluminium facade for the hospital block. Three ideas shaped the design:

• Sleek and modern. A clean, continuous skin in place of a flat, plain front.
• Durable. Aluminium panels that suit a public building that will be used every day.
• Start from the client’s reference. The client shared a reference pattern: a perforated screen that flows around a sweeping entrance canopy. Our job was to adapt that idea to this building.

The Existing Structure

Before any pattern was drawn, the building was documented as it stands. Site photographs show the block wrapped in scaffolding and green netting, with the parapet line and roof-level blocks that the new facade has to meet. From that, a scaled front elevation was drawn with the curved entrance canopy at its centre. Every panel in the design is laid out against that real geometry, not an idealised box.

The Pattern

The facade pattern is built from hexagons. The pattern studies start from single hexagon rosettes and clusters, then combine them into a repeating module. The hexagons are graded in size across the screen, from 453.65 mm down to 294.24 mm in the dimensioned drawing. The openness of the facade therefore changes gradually and the surface avoids a flat, repeating look.

The perforation layout is drawn as a single large profile that cuts around the canopy curve. The pattern runs continuously above the entrance and follows the sweep of the canopy, which keeps the facade and the entrance reading as one piece.

Two Options, Same Building

• Option 1: the hexagon-perforated screen, rendered in daylight over the full elevation. This is the pattern that went onto the building.
• Option 2: a more geometric, triangulated pattern, drawn over the same elevation and rendered at dusk. It shows how the screen reads under evening light.

Putting both on the same elevation let the client compare character and light effect directly before choosing a pattern for fabrication.

Scope of Architectural Works

The design package is organised in three parts.

• Detailed elevation drawing: a clear, scaled 2D front elevation of the whole facade. It shows the panel arrangement (horizontal, vertical or staggered), the joints and seams including expansion joints where needed, the mounting details (direct mounting, subframe or concealed fasteners), and annotated panel sizes and spacing.
• Paneling layout: the grid or pattern, outlined in both elevation and plan, with the perforation patterns shown in the 2D drawing or the 3D model.
• Facade mockup: a 3D model with perspective views to show depth, material rendering with real-life textures and finishes, and lighting studies of how natural light reflects off the panels under different conditions. For larger projects a small physical or digital mockup can support client presentations and approval.

Why This Matters

A facade drawing is only useful if someone can build from it. This one started from site photographs, carried the real canopy geometry, and put panel sizes, joints and mounting on the page before anything was cut. The finished screen now wraps the canopy and the upper floors as drawn. That is the same discipline Blacxird applies on its floor in Ayanambakkam. It is “Hardware, Not Hype,” applied to the face of a building.

FAQ

Hardware, Not Hype.
Blacxird Industries — Chennai, Tamil Nadu