An Industrial Minimal Office In Bangalore
We started designing this office work space in the midst of July, 2018… and now it’s finally time to reveal this industrial minimal office design!
All picture credits: Roma Ganesh Photography
Are you wondering why this project took so long to complete? The client got in touch with us before he got possession of the space. For a project of this scale this is the right time to get in touch with a designer. The first month and a half was dedicated to designing and planning the layout of the four floors of office rental space. Totalling 6000 square feet- the first, second and third floor 1500 square feet each and the terrace floor 1000 square feet.
This office was created for Prime Asset Source Pvt Ltd., an IT tech solution rental and refurbishment company headed by Preet Sonawala. We focused on making the space spacious, functional and comfortable after understanding his company’s philosophy. The office is located in Malleswaram, old Bengaluru surrounded by huge neem trees on Margosa Road.
The building itself is a fairly new building and it’s exterior is raw, framed in glass and steel. We continued this look indoors, staying true to the architecture of the building. We didn’t have to break down any existing walls in the building, we only had to design around the columns/structure of the space. The plumbing lines were already in place, but we had to re-work the electricals.
The biggest challenge turned out to be the electrical wiring!
We wanted to go for the stripped down warehouse-style appearance, so exposed ceilings are a significant part of that aesthetic. The exposed ceiling look was easy to achieve, the challenge posed for the other electrical connections which included the server room locations and socket connectivity points to the work tables. The flooring had already been installed by the builder, that meant we had to forego drawing wires in the floor. We needed to improvise so we drew wires to each table across partitions without damaging the existing floor tiles, a common issue faced when you ditch the walls and create an open floor plan. We decided to run the casing on the skirting and managed to draw wires beneath each table, below the built-ins and then through each partition.
Then power strips were fixed to both sides of the work table. The double sheet of birch ply design on the table top is practical to put away offices supplies like papers, books, calculaters instead of making the desk seem messy as well as functional since it conceals electrical wiring and eases the use of access to charge laptops/phones for both parities during discussions.
The first two floors were functional first and the entire team moved in. Design stalled for a few days, as their lease on the old office was up and they needed to move into the new office by Decemeber, 2018. They crammed into one floor since the floor below was warehouse space. Office relocation of piles of paper work and machines isn’t an easy feat so we understand why there was a hold up. Once everyone had settled into the new office the pressure kicked in to finish the third floor.
The third floor is the main floor, where all the senior associates, managers & Preet work from. We customized everything on this floor, from partitions to the tables to the built-in units. Once this floor was ready to work in we moved onto the last and final floor that included their pantry and conference area. They were in no hurry again this time to finish the last floor since everyone now had a delegated work space. They could manage without a pantry and conference room for a while. We patiently waited to start work again when the client was ready!
Now here are some pictures of the site before. The first, second, third and last floor in order. The first three floors are almost identical!
& now here are some images of the work in progress design…..
THIRD FLOOR
This space features a mix of semi-private and common spaces, I say semi-private because we haven’t used any dry walls. All the six cabins are identical regardless of the employees position in the company, apart from a few size differences where Preet’s cabin is the largest.
All the wonderful art you see on the third floor is done by Preet’s wife, Radha!
We used a restrained material palette of glass, birch ply for the table tops & built-in storage units and steel for the partitions and table legs. Instead of aluminum we used steel as the raw material for the partitions powder-coated in black. This helped us achieve a precise slim section for a sleek contemporary divider design. The only false ceiling we created is in the common area. This false ceiling isn’t a typical gypsum or PoP ceiling, instead we designed a steel frame bolted to the ceiling with a perforated metal sheet powder coated in grey.
We brought in pops of red with the single chairs and pendant lights, we tried a few color options but red stood out well against all that metal work. Lastly, we decided on commissioning an artist to add some grey texture to the walls since it looked too plain and boring. The grey definitely adds some character and depth to the walls, it’s such a beautiful neutral color!
The cabins were placed along the windows in an L-shape, and the open floor plan tables on the other side. By placing the tables and cabins this way we were maximizing on the amount of light entering into the entire floor space!
For the open floor plan we ordered the tables from Featherlite. Most of the office chairs are from Featherlite too, and some from the old office. We also custom build birch ply storage units behind each of the cluster of four tables, for personal storage.
Behind the common area, we designed a steel partition to hide the printer from the entrance view. The printer is accessible from all cabins as well as the open floor seating tables. The steel partition was also designed to place the company logo, front and centre behind the yellow sofa. The company logo should complete this wall.
A sleek ceiling hung reception table placed at the entrance, with side sliding storage boxes. The server room is visible at the back!
We have placed the server room in the corner near the first cabin, covered in a steel frame and perforated metal sheets. We’ve divided the server room for each floor so we avoid any form of system over-heating. The server room is air conditioned, and is accessible with a door.
FOURTH FLOOR
We designed a fully equipped conference room where presentations as well as video training calls can be projected onto the blank wall for team huddles, meetings and trainings. The conference table also converts into a TT table at leisure. We’ve designed a sleek drawer pull out to store their TT rackets and net. We also custom made this sleek table with steel powder-coated legs and a birch ply top.
We brought in some bright colors to the kitchen and pantry area as well. Teal and red formed a striking but fun color combo! We also chose Onduline as a material for the roofing, fitted with customized hanging ceramic lights. Subtle grey textured geometric tiles for the floor.. and lastly we filled this space up with tall plants.
The partitions on the last and first floor is made from aluminium for cost effective reasons. From the pictures I hope you can notice the difference in thickness of the dividers while compared to the partitions on the second and third floor. The steel partitions sturdiness and sleekness really pulled in a well-designed clean industrial design to our main floors.
Finally a well stocked kitchen, its spacious the shutter partition into the kitchen is 20 ft wide and it completely open out as well. It houses two fridges, a coffee machine and plenty of storage below the counter, we haven’t built upper cabinets but we’ve left the space blank incase they would like to add top cabinets in the future. I was so happy when the kitchen was functional because when on site I could finally order a hot cup of coffee :D…
SECOND FLOOR
This is the floor where the laptops get checked, repaired and sent to IT companies on rentals. We designed this floor in a way where the customer who is a middle man picks up the laptops from the service desks and exits. The customer isn’t allowed access into the main working area of the floor plan. This work area is accessible only with a finger print code used by the floor manager, accountant and computer engineers. If you notice the partition below fitted with birch ply instead of glass, houses the companies files. The file room has been divided into two rooms, fitted with a door under lock and key supervision.
FIRST FLOOR
The warehouse, a plan of this space is straight-forward and is attached below. The entire space is fitted with slotted angle racks to hold their inventory.
There it is! THE OFFICE :D