The project originated as a Design Competition for ‘Forest Department Head Quarters, Uttarakhand’ - a department in the State which manages some of richest forests and biodiversity in India. The project site, identified within the forest campus at Rajpur Road, Dehradun was undertaken in terms of site planning and zoning. Based on the departmental requirements given to us, we worked on clustering of activities requiring more public interface together as floor plates and segregation of functional spaces as per the organisational hierarchy planned within the building, both vertically and horizontally. Derivation of pronounced building form was a function of the orientation of the demarcated site which stretches along the North-South axis resulting in the proposed building face towards East-West. The concave form of the building towards the East face & convex form towards West face has been proposed for the respective façades to receive maximum winter sun. Curved building form was further detailed out to create a more receptive public building façade with double height cut-outs and landscape courts on both the sides of the entrance plaza. Harmonious and regular recurrence of lines, shapes and forms were proposed to create a visual rhythm for public identity while planning. This translated itself into the design of overall massing/ built-form and detailing of various elements of architectural composition. Roof form was derived symbolically as an expression of Raj-Era Dak Bungalows (Forest Rest Houses). Landscaped courts are planned at various levels in front as well as back elevations which act as light wells in deep pockets and ventilation shafts for the functional spaces within the built mass. Building skin is designed to allow for maximum day light as primary source of illumination in work spaces while eliminating the glare through the provision ‘Light Shelf’ with reflective top surface. Sloping chajjas and sloping roof further depicts the traditional building form prevalent in the State with dormer windows/ skylights where the roof spires symbolise traditional Uttarakand styling punctuating the Skyline. Design simultaneously worked on two parameters while defining the scale & composition of the built form - on one hand, focus was on generation of grand overall impression for the building i.e. the identity of the State Head Quarter Building from a distance with impressive roofline, but on the other hand, a more human scale was determined to be obtained by integration of contextual elements in design with user interface being close to the building.