For years, asylum designs in India alienated patients and stigmatized psychiatric ailments. Ranchi has been the center of psychiatry in India, having two colonial-era asylums – CIP and RINPAS with imposing fortifications and cell-like enclosures. While numerous private outpatient clinics emerged gradually, inpatient facilities remained limited to governmental institutions. Thus, it owns to the prohibitive costs of expansive asylums and the pervasive social stigma around psychiatric disorders.
Editor’s Note: “In Ranchi, formerly marked by the oppressive colonial-era asylum, a breakthrough in mental healthcare unfolds. Using its biophilic design, Compos Mentis, a 239 sq. m. structure on the fringe area of the city, redefines mental care. Creating a compassionate atmosphere that divides between institutional care and community acceptance by using natural elements and employing locally sourced materials. Addressing both practical requirements and the prejudices associated with mental health, this unique method offers optimism for the future” ~ Baarat Krishna
This Asylum in India Seeks to Explore if Design Can Foster Compassion | SPACEMAGUS
Enter Compos Mentis, a new psychiatric infirmary on the rural outskirts of Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. This 239 sq.m. facility, featuring inviting courtyards, seeks to explore if architecture can also foster compassion and care.
Compos Mentis reimagines asylums, aiming for social equity in mental healthcare by making the spaces humane, habitable, and inclusive. Inside, one also finds a consultation chamber, a waiting hall, a short-stay ward for six patients, an escorts’ dormitory, and a pharmacy.
With miners and industrial laborers contributing 75% of the patient load, Compos Mentis addresses their challenges of suboptimal working conditions, prevalence of psychiatric disorders, and substance abuse.
Compos Mentis embraces biophilic design, integrating natural light, fresh air, and greenery. Thus, it effectively blurs the indoor-outdoor boundary to provide a healing experience that transcends the mere confines of built space. Coupled with tactile materials, this helps patients feel connected to nature, soothes their psyche, and facilitates recovery.
Large glazings around courtyards connect indoor and outdoor spaces and help to keep the building introverted, protecting it from unwarranted external interference, also allowing unrestricted internal visibility for easier patient monitoring.
The unassuming architectural form, with its earthy hues and textures, evokes a sense of familiarity in the urban neighborhood, mitigating social ostracization and fostering a culture of acceptance.
Built on contoured terrain, Compos Mentis blends traditional building crafts with modern construction techniques. The design draws inspiration from Indigenous courtyard-style planning and utilizes locally sourced materials such as stone, bricks, and cement with an approach of – ‘Truth to materials.’
These traditional materials are thoughtfully combined with modern products like steel, concrete, glass, and polycarbonate in a hybrid structural frame.
Local masons, skilled in stone and brickwork, played a key role in the project. This blend of old and new promotes traditional building crafts and supports the livelihood of associated communities facing the heat of rapid construction.
Compos Mentis illustrates cost-effective passive solar architecture for the hot-dry tropical climate of Ranchi. Primary materials, sourced within a 160-kiIometer radius, ensure low embodied energy, highlighting its commitment to sustainability.
Thermal gain is reduced by minimizing external openings while utilizing passages, toilets and the staircase as solar buffers. Internal courtyards and peripheral light-wells allow glare-free light, natural ventilation and greenery, further cooling the microclimate for optimal user comfort. These techniques reduce artificial lighting and ventilation requirements, saving energy and operational costs, while robust materials minimize maintenance.
With a construction cost of just 20,00,000 INR (24,000 USD), Compos Mentis offers a humble alternative to conventional asylums, affordable to individual psychiatrists, advocating against otherization of psychiatry patients while prioritizing their sensory and cognitive needs for a more equitable future in mental healthcare.
Fact File
Designed by: SPACEMAGUS
Project Type: Healthcare Architecture Design / Asylum
Project Name: Compos Mentis Healthcare Architecture
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Year Built: 2023
Project Size: 787 Sq.ft
Principal Architect: Samya Ghatak
Photograph Courtesy: Samya Ghatak
Structural Designer: Mayank Singh
Manufacturers: Asian Paints
Source: Archdaily
Firm’s Instagram Link: SPACEMAGUS
For Similar Project>> This multi-specialty hospital in Ahmedabad tends its patients in the joy of colors
This North Facing villa opens towards the East to always soak in the cool and diffused light. Its orientation is mindful of the adjoining clubhouse and its expansive garden. The planning allows the villa’s private lawn to visually merge with it, creating a larger and cohesive space. With a connection to the open space at […]
An Urban Sanctuary Woven with Craft, Warmth, and Light Explicitly tucked into a quiet residential pocket, this home with a jaali facade is a thoughtfully layered expression of calm, character, and craftsmanship. Every surface and corner is rooted in intention — where light, material, and memory meet. The Jaali Design in this Layered Home Exudes […]
The design of the house prioritises connectivity to nature by incorporating green elements like vertical gardens or landscaped courtyards. This is achieved through various means, such as large windows framing scenic views, outdoor living spaces seamlessly merging with the surrounding landscape. The emphasis on connectivity to nature creates a serene and harmonious environment, fostering a […]
“Viraam,” a 4000 sq ft house design that embodies its literal translation: “a pause.” The vision is to create a sanctuary for relaxation, introspection, and to escape from the constant demands of daily life – an urban void for personal retreat. Editor’s Note: “Viraam is not just a house, it’s a pause. A place to […]
The facade of this Indian contemporary house design strikes a careful balance between solids and voids, with sculpted forms that reveal the inner workings of the space. The design plays with light and shadow, creating visual depth and intrigue from the exterior. The form resembles a cuboid that has been scooped out, while the outer […]
This 5 storey building takes inspiration from ancient haveli architecture. “Hailing from north India, the family held deep nostalgia for haveli, large residences with communal courtyards called chowks, projecting balconies called jharokhas and intricate brick or stone lattice screens called jaalis, vernacular to many western and northern regions of India,” said SJK Architects partner Vaishali […]
Set in the serene landscape of Nashik, the Dabholkar Residence by GDA is a home, embracing stone clad walls. Here, tradition and contemporary design exist in harmony. Designed to reflect the family’s deep connection to tradition and art while embracing the style of contemporary living, it is a space where architectural details, heritage furniture, artwork […]
This remodelling project aimed to revitalise a load-bearing house while respecting its original integrity and adapting it to contemporary needs. The design approach prioritised minimal structural intervention, allowing the existing framework to guide spatial reconfiguration. Careful consideration was given to preserving the load-bearing walls, which formed the backbone of the original construction. Openings were strategically […]
Nestled within a 30×40 ft plot is the compact house design in Banashankari 6th Stage, Bengaluru. This residence for the Ellappans, reimagines traditional Indian living in a contemporary, spatially dynamic form. Designed for a family of three- Mr. Ellappan, his wife, and their teenage son- the house expresses a deep connection to vernacular roots while […]
The Indian farmhouse accommodation goes on to capitalize on a mature evolutionary synthesis of ancestral aesthetics and contemporary features. With this, the outside and the inside of farmhouses became places of comfort with nature. In this blog, we delve into 15 incredible farmhouse designs that entail a harmonious blending. While they exhibit different spaces in […]