Infres Methodex Office

InfresMethodex is an organization specializing in niche office automation products like shredders and currency counting machines. They needed to comfortably accommodate their current team in a new location while providing sufficient scope for future expansion. The only brief from our clients was to create an office space that would foster the values of the organization – quality and efficiency.The site was in a generic office building located on the main highway to Agra, just beyond the city limits of Delhi. A peculiar characteristic of the space was the presence of a large atrium that virtually divided the space into three distinct zones.

The challenge was to create a unified office atmosphere while dividing the space programmatically into the three zones. The first part of the office was laid out for the reception area and the marketing team since they would have the most interactions with visitors. The accounts and technical section were positioned on the other side of the atrium while the main management area acted as the bridge between the two and enjoyed the best views out towards the highway. Services were consolidated and pushed to the lightless areas of the building footprint, where they could be easily ventilated into the building air conditioning system.

As a planning strategy, it was decided that enclosed cabins would face the atrium and the open plan workstations would face the curtain wall at the periphery, thereby allowing a better overall distribution of light in the space. The movement corridor divides the two spaces, allowing for a sense of privacy while still providing opportunities for mentoring. Even the walls between the cabins stop short of the glass doors of the corridor, enabling wider views from within and better transparency while walking. A sophisticated energy saving air conditioning system that allows for efficient zone-wise cooling was adopted to ensure to differentiate between occupied and unoccupied areas. Adopted from the hospitality industry is an idea to combine and divide meeting rooms by silent top hung acoustical panels. These can be stored away when a larger training session is required and pulled out for smaller discussions.

A light oak colour is used to offset the crisp white surfaces in the open plan areas and a darker, more mature oak is used in the cabins of the senior management and the board room. The reception area features a continuous ribbon of panelling that envelops the entire space while illuminated by an architectural fabric ceiling. A raised seating area is enclosed by a series of wooden beams that provide a fleeting glimpse of the interior from the entrance, carrying forward the overall theme of transparency and lightness.

Location

Faridabad,

Haryana

Client   

InfresMethodex

Typology

Commercial

Climate

Composite

Built-Up Area                

12000 Sq.Ft.

Completion

2014

E1B1

 Mohan Co-operative Industrial Estate in New Delhi is a thin sliver of land adjoining the Delhi-Agra railway line on the eastern side. Originally meant for manufacturers that required access to the nearby freight facilities, it has now descended into a civic mess of offices and aging warehouses with parking overflowing on the streets, leaving pedestrians to negotiate broken roads and constant traffic. The land for the E1B1 project had earlier housed a steel mill and hence, an aging metal structure occupied part of the site.

The brief from the owner was to create an office building that could have multiple end-users. At the outset, the strategy was to make a facility that was not only flexible, but also had a civic presence. A basement was created to accommodate parking, with a discreet ramp set below the building plinth. This freed up the front edge of the property and a wide walking area was created, leading up to the building entrance.

The building was organized into three basic areas;A central office block flanked by two service areas, one at the front and another at the rear. The centre block, a large 60’ wide column free space was repeated on the upper floors. The main stair, expressed in the façade as a tall grey volume, an elevator and a common conference room were accommodated in the front service area and the rear block housed the toilets, building services, a spare elevator and a fire escape stair.

The upper floor, designed as a private suite of offices for the client, was expressed a dark grey slab apparently floating on the glass wall below. Punctured with square windows, the horizontality provides a dramatic counterpoint to the verticality of the stair volume. A corner of this grey box was cut away on the front façade to reveal a shaded terrace, as a private area for refuge and contemplation. 

Location                                  

Industrial Estate, New Delhi

Client

Mohan Co-operative

Typology

Commercial

Climate

Composite

Built-Up Area

25,000 Sq.Ft.

Completion

2010

Mitsubishi Engineering

Mitsubishi Heavy Engineering wanted to set up an office in India anticipating future growth. With limited staff and a fluid roadmap of the future, they wanted an office designed as per their global standards of quality and one that could handle sudden increases and decreases of people based on their on-going projects at any point.

The leased space was a quadrant in a high-rise tower in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi known more for its vertical dimension than for its civic spaces. The curved façade provided plentiful light, however the western aspect meant the evening glare would have to be mitigated. The brief called for open plan workstations with some enclosed meeting rooms and cabins for senior staff. Workstations were planned to be clustered in working groups, as per Mitsubishi ethos, with small open spaces that could provide places for spontaneous discussion.

Rather than following the “corner-office” approach that affords the finest views and natural light to the senior most people, the strategy was to give the maximum natural light to the open plan workstations. The enclosed cabins were aligned to the dead wall on either side of the quadrant, and were fitted with frameless glass panels overlooking the central workspace. The resulting clarity of movement combines with the clear sight lines across the office to aid better co-ordination between working groups.

A hallmark of this project was the commitment to avoiding on-site finish. As far as possible, design details were drawn to be manufactured off-site with components were ordered well in advance. Even the onsite work was detailed so as to limit the paint and polish surfaces. Specifications were redrawn and redesigned to ensure that fit and finish quality would match global standards. Muted tones of grey and blue, traditional Mitsubishi Engineering colours, were used in the furniture and wall panelling.

Location                                  

Gurgaon

Client

Mitsubishi Heavy Engineering

Typology

Commercial

Climate

Composite

Built-Up Area

5000 Sq.Ft.

Completion

2011