Yelläks /ˈyæl•eks/

The scarcity of hostel rooms in IISc seems to be over. Slowly the “newer hostel complex” whose name is not yet known, is becoming operational and the first students moved into it. That gave me a chance to wander around in the block and to find some interesting and innovative designs.

For instance the latch which is suppose to lock the cabinet doors.

In case you loose your keys, any screwdriver will do without damaging the lock. The latch is mounted in a way that if it is latched, it does not cover the plate with the screws. That would usually not be a problem since I do not know anybody using that latch anyway. However students are asked not to look the doors, since the furniture such as cots and desks, are not built up yet. So all personal belongings are in the cabinet and the room door is left open. On the contrary the security asks students to lock the doors even in case of a mother nature calls due to thefts. 1000 rooms and 1000 times the latch wrongly mounted. Dear carpenter, is it so difficult to use the brain to think for a second?

Have a look at the two images below. Find the 10 mistakes.

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These rooms are just opposite. However you might have noticed that the space above the cabinet in the second room is just a rock solid wall. The problem is here that the room is something like 30 to 40 cm to long. Means the wall with the room door does not fall in line with the girder supporting the structure. Instead the space between girder and door is used to built in a larger window towards the hallway. But due to the girder no additional light nor fresh air will find their way into the room.

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Since the gap above the cabinet and the girder would be very small (around 15 to 20cm in height), the additional space that is in the first room has been conveniently walled sealing something like 1 cubic meter of air behind the wall. Was this the intention of the architect (then why differently designed rooms and not all the same?) or did the planner wrongly estimated the lengths? That brings me to another thought: For the structural integrity of the building, should not girders always fall in line with walls for support? Maybe someone who is familiar with the subject, can shed some light on it?

But in the end, no one will care as usual. At least a major issue that was bothering people for years, has been solved and students finally get rooms on campus.