For an office space to be shared and jointly occupied by a young couple engaged in diverse professions,Intrinsic Designs has created a workspace that effortlessly fuses design needs,while also allowing for individual identities to emerge.The space to be shared equally by a fashion designer along with a chartered accountant’s office called for an unconventional design approach; one rooted in the intrinsic,inherent qualities of minimal design and optimum utility.
The ‘Curve & Dashes’ is a 450sq.ft commercial office space with a single opening for natural light, along the shorter side of the rectangular layout.Within this setting, the designers were faced with the challenge of distributing natural daylight equally between the two distinct workspaces of a fashion design studio in and a chartered accountant’s office.Beginning with this constraint,the narrow linear space was divided such that both workspaces receive equitable daylight access,through a linear and not lateral space division.‘Curve & Dashes’ is a search for lightness and efficiency in design,uncompromising on the values of stripping away the inessential,and arriving at the truth of materials and forms.
While the pantry and other services are neatly tucked away at the arrival area,the significant functions of changing room and display space for the fashion studio,and executive deskspaces for the accountant’s office smoothly negotiate with each other. Set in this efficient and practical composition, the office unfolds into a series of two seperate spaces,merged by a uniform design language of muted browns, arched doorways and a subtle yet spirited flooring pattern!
Pursuing a fluid yet formal design language,fabricated elliptical curves and gently curved edges are carved out to enhance the narrow space, and allow for maximum possible utility. For instance, the changing area at the fashion studio,enveloped by a “soft wall” of opaque curtains running on a thin black MS pipe is essentially an ellipse that informs the geometry of the staff desks behind it.Next to the changing area ,a display niche, with rounded edges and soft lines is enfolded at an angle.
According to Shivraj Patel and Shruti Malani,principal designers at Intrinsic Designs,the fundamental intent for the fashion studio was for the ethnic designerwear to be prominent against a neutral, clutterless background that easily falls away from becoming visually overbearing.A simple and efficient system of black-metal bodied lighting fixed from the exposed concrete ceiling addresses lighting needs.Linear tracklights flood the displays in focused and even light, combined with linear profile lighting.Furthermore,a diffused tone of daylight washes over the space, as desired with the use of monochromatic sheer curtains.
Owing to the clever use of mirrors, both as a large backdrop to the fashion studio as well as a necessary fixture in the trial room, the space seems expansive.From certain angles, the reflections of vertical panelling in Birch ply rising towards the exposed concrete-finish ceiling looks limitless and almost infinite. By creating a consistent system of thin strip panelling, in a natural tone of linseed oil polished Birch ply, an effective environment for all other elements comes into being. An array of these strips also becomes a seamless wall surface, constructed at an angle to the fashion studio area.Behind this panelling, which is specially perforated for ventilation, the tailor room and storage is concealed,unknown to the casual visitor.The ingenuity of design detailing lies in the hidden joinery, and in concealing door handles within the framework, such that an uninterrupted surface is seen from outside.This skewed wall opens up an experience of dynamism and expanded surface area, in an otherwise narrow space. In this forest of vertical Birch ply strips, the eye glides around soft corners and effortless edges.
Diagonal to this, while one arched passageway leads into the design studio,the accountant’s office is approached through another sequence of half-arches in untreated,natural Birch plywood.A simple and efficient system of staff work desks, arranged in a narrow space leads into the formal main office space. Here too, the language of thin vertical Birch strips continues,housing the storage unit while also becoming a textured backdrop for the office.Almost appearing to rest gently on the bookshelf and file cabinet, a lightweight and clean two-legged work desk emerges from it.Like other fixed furnitures,the desk is a celebration of textures of Birch ply, with unhidden geometries, natural polish and material layers exposed.A notch in the desk surface holds,plug sockets,switchboards and other services. Complimenting the subdued tones of wood, a carefully selected palette of terracotta artefacts and vases bring warmth to the multifunctional storage shelf. Sleek, concealed profile lighting within the shelves and a suspended black metal profile light over the desk ensure enough focused light, along with a wash of gauzy natural daylight through the window. Continuing with a restrained hand, the space is enlivened with only a couple of carefully selected indoor plants.Plants, interior accessories as well as the chic designerwear,all together become objects of delight and pleasure rather than fillers of space.
As a captivating and playful surface, the cement tiled flooring in grey and white dashes stretches seamlessly across the office.Dashes oriented towards the longer side,this constant feature creates interesting compositions when met with angled walls and curved surfaces ; appearing to stretch the space,and one’s imagination!
For two young and promising businesses to develop effectively in synergy,as well as independently, the uniform use of textures, materials and finishes enables a possibility of future expansion into either of the workspaces, intuitively and with sublime efficiency.
