AES Canteen - Terracotta Facade system , Ahmedabad
Product: GFRC Terracotta Facade System
Colour: Terracotta
Texture: Smooth
Architect: HCP Design
Contractor: Emboss Construction Pvt Ltd
Installer: The Concrete SHOP®
Year: 2026
Location: Ahmedabad
Some facades are built to shelter. This one was built to filter light, cast shadow, and turn a plain concrete envelope into something that changes character through the day.
For the Ahmedabad Education Society's campus, the design called for a terracotta screen wrapping the building's exposed edge, hundreds of square metres of it, in a tight geometric pattern that softens the scale of the structure while letting light and air move through. The intent was clear: a facade with texture and warmth, something that feels crafted rather than manufactured, without the fragility or inconsistency of working in actual fired terracotta at this scale.
GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) was the material chosen to deliver that vision. Each panel was cast with a repeating hexagonal lattice pattern, precise, uniform, and deep enough to create real shadow play as the sun moves across the facade. Mounted panel by panel across the full elevation and supported on a row of columns that lift the screen clear of the ground floor, the system reads as one continuous woven surface from a distance, while up close it reveals the fine, layered detail of the mould work.
The terracotta tone was matched to feel warm and grounded against the grey concrete base and the campus greens around it, giving the building a facade that looks equally striking under harsh midday sun and soft evening light.
Completed in 2026, this project stands as one of the more ambitious large-scale GFRC screen applications, proof that a single repeating pattern, executed with precision across a full building elevation, can carry an entire architectural identity.
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