A Heritage Building on a major High street in Guwahati was calling for upgradation from a usage point of view to be able to extract its true commercial value. Our clients are a reputed Tea Plantation company engaged in the business of Tea Plantations and related endeavors. Amalgamated Plantations Pvt. Ltd (APPL) is the second largest tea producer in India with 24 tea estates in Assam and Bengal covering approximately 24,000 ha and employing 31000 people.
Apart from the core business of Tea, APPL has ventured into the Agri foods and Timber/Bamboo Plantations business within the tea estates focusing in the areas of spices, horticulture, animal husbandry and bamboo and high value timber.
With this kind of company background, we were selected to design and refurbish their building to make it more engaging and accommodating of the new requirements of the workforce with highest focus on making it more engaging, productive and collaborative. Our entire approach was to be HONEST to the building and its heritage feel by uncovering what was hidden and exposing the beauty of the coffer slabs on each floor, as discovered. We also attempted to maximize the floor plates through integrated space use planning so that light and ventilation would be maximized and the space felt energized in comparison to the maze-like walls that it had in the past.
There are 3 Clear USPs that make this place unique:
USP1: The Property was re-designed with RESPECT for the past and VISION towards the future!
We threw ourselves a challenge : Could we manage to showcase the building for what it truly was and set it within the requirements of an aspirational end user group that wanted a work space that was creative and energizing? We adopted a narrative that opened up the building and showcased it for what is really was: the wonderful coffer ceilings reflect a structural system of a bygone era and are dramatically exposed and highlighted across both the floors:
Floor 0: The Coffer ceiling has the color of Tea that is welcoming and contextual.
Floor 1: The Coffer ceiling has the color of Green tea Fields and plantations that evoke the glory of the estates.
USP 2: The Other USP of the place is the Treatment of Both floors;
Floor 0: This has curvilinear decks at the Meet and Greet reception Lounge that evoke the tea Plantations and provide for an informal sitting / lounging area.
Floor 1: This has a Type of Work station unseen before and designed by us: with a retractable central screen that can be lowered or raised back the workstation allows for collaborative as well as personal use space with great ease.
USP 3: The Artistic use of “Kulhars” (Indian Cups of tea made out of clay) in concentric waves in the ceiling of the Tea Selling Outlet
These celebrate and raise awareness of the ubiquitous cup of tea that is so much part of our lives and so understated. While this may be seen as a merely aesthetic gesture, its celebration in the ceiling along with the rest of the décor of the Outlet is a matter of great pride and satisfaction to the end users: our clients.
