Aja, a food brand ideated in 2014 in Chandigarh, aims to serve globally inspired street food that focuses on healthy conscious consumption. Their vision can be summarized in their brand’s slogan, Fresh, Grilled and Healthy.
While interpreting the brief, the challenge was to create an experience that corresponds with the brand’s global vision while creating a reflection of its place of origin.
The concept for the restaurant therefore, takes cues from the characteristics of the city, either as capturing the openness seen in the landscape, or aligning with the texture of the city. It is interpreted through a specific material palette of concrete, wood and greens in a contemporary experimental form.
The site is a rectangular block, which is a ground floor of a three story commercial building, offering fenestrations at opposite ends of the shorter length. To make maximum use of the daylight, serving spaces and the live kitchen are placed along the longer side of the space, leaving the shorter sides uninterrupted.
As one enters the restaurant, the live kitchen on the right satiates the senses with the aroma of spices and the visuals of herbs and vegetables. On the left, the space opens up to the dining area. Here, the city’s greens are imbibed as two dynamic forms of landscaped islands containing a variety of indoor plants, along the central space of the restaurant. They add freshness to the environment and create a sense of enclosure while heightening user experience.
In Chandigarh, concrete became an important material of choice for Le Corbusier and his team, which made it define the image of the city's built environment. Hence, concrete as a material is significantly explored in this project to reinforce the connection between the citizens of the city and the restaurant. The freedom of casting concrete in any form was sensitively explored to achieve the desired impact and finishes. A layer of concrete is casted in situ on the existing walls of the site. These walls along with the micro cement flooring give the space an impression of a monolithic volume.
Wood as a material became part of the palette to add warmth to the overall ambience. Low-lying wooden furniture, unique to the restaurant, augments user experience while making the space look immaculate. Wooden hanging lights are designed and fabricated exclusively for the project. These interact and engage with the green islands like a playful installation flowing throughout the space. Lights above the dining tables are capped with a piece of tinted hand blown glass to add an element of luxury to the space. Even elements such as the door handle have been customized to fit and complement the project.
Therefore, Aja, while deriving inspiration from the elements of its hometown stands as an epitome of a space unique to the city of Chandigarh.Aja, a food brand ideated in 2014 in Chandigarh, aims to serve globally inspired street food that focuses on healthy conscious consumption. Their vision can be summarized in their brand’s slogan, Fresh, Grilled and Healthy.For us, the challenge was to create an experience that corresponds with the brand’s global vision while creating a reflection of its place of origin.
The concept for the restaurant therefore, takes cues from the characteristics of the city, either as capturing the openness seen in the landscape, or as aligning with the texture of the city. Therefore, the spatial character of this restaurant is dominated by a specific material palette of concrete, wood and greens in a contemporary experimental form.
Team:
Architects: Arch.Lab
Lead Architects: Harsimran Singh and Mohit Vij
Design Team: Harsimran Singh, Mohit Vij, Taruni Aggarwal, Jasnam Kaur
Space Illustration designer: Ankita Thakur
Space Illustration Execution: Ankita Thakur, Gunmeet Singh, Sowmya Singh
Art work and concrete tile fabrication: Inspace
Photographer: Purnesh Dev Nikhanj
Materials used:
Flooring: Stone - Granite
Wall Cladding: Precast Concrete panels
Lighting Fixtures:Hardwood
Furniture/decor: Stone, Hardwood and metal
