Functional Luxury

Comfort, smart space-planning and functional luxury are the hallmarks of this Ahmedabad office designed by Mulev Associates.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: Photographix India; courtesy Mulev Associates

The brief

The client, who is a builder, had a simple brief of comfort and easy maintenance. The twist, however, was that the design had to accommodate three working cabins along with other requirements within the given area.

The design intent

The intent was to create an easy-to-maintain work environment rich in functional luxury and infused with artistic narratives.

The challenge

Given the top-floor location of the office, the pipelines for the toilets had to be carefully configured. Therefore, the architect first froze the position of the washrooms, and then worked out the rest of the layout.

The spatial flow

The spacious reception in stone and wood forms the prelude to the design story. Rendered from a single stone and finished in various textures, the focal wall behind the desk sets the tone of the narrative.

To the left of the reception is the waiting area housed on a Italian marble-floored split level. This leads to the carpeted conference with sofa seating, breaking the popular norm of the sitting-around-a-table for a meeting. The conference room enjoys a general access for the office staff and a private entry from the MD’s cabin. The partition between conference and waiting is a backlit MS book rack finished in fabric.

Opposite the cluster of the waiting and conference spaces is the sprawling MD’s cabin where a tiny landscaped courtyard contained within a transparent toughened glass enclosure brings the desired green to the otherwise closed environment. To the right of the reception are the three working cabins and the account section. Each cabin has its own palette of decor featuring spurts of colour.

The material palette

The selection is governed by sophistication and luxury. Rugged stone, Italian marble, glass, wood and MS are the dominant materials.

Fact File

Project: AB Office
Area: 2,100 sq ft
Location:  Ahmedabad
Principal architect: Rajesh Panchal
Design team: Himani Raval, Sweety Mound, Kuldeep Suthar and Dipak Lohar
Paintings: Priyanshi Patel