Surat: Built to stand tall for centuries , Surat Fort’s architecture had an eco-friendly system of air conditioning as well.Designed to be self-sufficient in every sense for emergency situation when the castle would have to go into a shutdown mode during invasion, its architect Khudavand Khan had ensured that soldiers and officers within the fort would be provided adequate fresh and cool air constantly. The Persian-style wind catchers encapsulated cool air through louvers and expelled stale air by working upon the natural buoyancy of thermal forces installed in the vents. Behind the vents were, cruciform-shaped air ducts.The original castle had unique ventilating system that allowed fresh air to come in and hot air to go out without exposing the inner surface to outside. This ensured protection against possible invasions while providing ventilation.Conservation architect Sumesh Modi of People for Heritage Concern, who heads the fort restoration team, said, “Thanks to the Surat Municipal Corporation for providing services of endoscopic vision that led us to discover these ventilating systems and their interconnections. These ventilating systems are present in the Sultanate Burj on the southeast corner of the castle and in the Tughlaq vault on the northeast corner of the castle. These may also reveal in the second phase of the castle.“To suit the lifestyle of today and changed climatic conditions, 101 tonne air-conditioning system has been installed to preserve the fragile building as well as the artifacts exhibits. At the same time, the increased number of visitors far exceeds the number of occupants during any historical era and hence the increase in artificial means of ventilation on the premises,” he said.At present, the restored portion of the fort has total of 101 tonne air-conditioning unit installed. This includes A1 and A2 buildings with 60.26 tonnes, A3 first floor with 40.44 tonne and server room with 1.5 tonne.Speaking to TOI, chief curator at fort Bhamini Mahida said, “We ensure using air-conditioning in a cost-effective manner. We have an inbuilt cut-off system installed. We switch off the air-conditioning two hours after switching it on during visiting hours. These days it is quite pleasant. Hence, we need to run it only for an hour in the mornings.”

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