Gandhi Architect’s office | Gandhi Architects | Bharuch, Gujarat
A Workspace Nurturing Creative Ideas and Manifesting into reality. The project is an Architect’s Workspace. Our Idea was to make a space that fostered a collaborative working style. A place to manifest ideas into reality, to create, to discover and explore new possibilities in order to achieve design solutions unique to a problem. We create a space that flaunted our style of designing and resonated with our beliefs in “less is more” and timelessness. We took a challenge of designing in a strict budget without compromising on quality, aesthetics and concept.
We worked with the concept of “Golden Ratio or Divine Proportion”. When specifically applied to design, it creates an organic, balanced, and aesthetically pleasing composition but the challenge was to balance the geometry of Golden ratio while maintaining the functionality of the design, be it the furniture, the partitions, the doors, the workstations or the wall art.
The office plan is a rectangle with the entry at one small end, a large window at the center and in the end. The space is essentially divided into zones according to user and functional hierarchy which in turn culminated into our floor plan. As you open the door, one steps into a convivial lounge, instantly giving a glimpse of the architects’ design style. One of the biggest site challenges was its utility location, right at the entry. This meant that the lounge and the utility were going to be adjoining. We camouflaged the utility entry into our wall paneling design, thereby transforming an undesirable element into an accent element.
The lounge leads you to the heart of the office, a well-lit, spacious staff area that includes individual workstations and discussion area. The work desks are against the window and walls to keep the central space free for movement. They are designed to be simple and sleek with mild steel structure. We wanted to create partitions that were light and gave a sense of definition rather than division. This led us to use a mild steel frame with clear glass, giving a notion of continuity and cement sheet at eye level for privacy.
All the furniture is majorly designed on the dead wall so nothing hinders the natural light and the space looks expansive. Instead of segregating, the workstations and storage have been conflated together, saving space and creating a unique multiuse element.
The staff area opens into the Architects’ cabin. Both the partners have individual workspaces on either wall ensuring privacy while enabling communication.
The use of Blues and Aqua balances out the otherwise neutral colour palette which is light on the eye as well as the mind, something that didn’t overpower our thoughts and ideas. Uniform design language and material and colour palette is continued all throughout making the whole project cohesive.
Sustainability is another issue that is close to our hearts. The gigantic windows ensure ample natural lighting throughout the day making the necessity of artificial lighting almost equal to zero. Our material palette is directed by our inclination towards using materials that are, ecological and recyclable. Thus, the use of natural Kota stone, Oriental Strand Board, Metal, Wood and Glass. Even though the furniture seems fixed, if needed it can be relocated, increasing its long-term usability.
FACT FILE
Project Name : Gandhi Architect’s office
Designed Firm : Gandhi Architects
Principal Designers : Ar. Gautam Gandhi, Ar. Chandni Gandhi
Project Location : Bharuch, India
Carpet Area : 330 Sq.Ft.
Project Year : February 2021
Photography Credits : Vatsalya Films
Text Credits : Ar. Nrutya Reddy Jadav
