An interweave of curiosity and celebration at Faridabad’s fancy dinner.
The Dorrance has made an illustrious contribution to the growth of Faridabad, the largest metropolitan city in Haryana.
The Dorrance poses as a distinctive social hub, binding together celebratory experiences and memories of guests, augmenting the nightlife of Faridabad.
Name of the project: Dorrance
Location: Faridabad
Design Firm: Chromed Design Studio
Design Team: Abhigyan Neogi, Tenzin Dodhen
Area (Sq.ft): Plot Area: 10,000 Sq ft.
Completion date: December 2021
Designed to draw audiences who are enthusiastic about the city’s nightlife, the club complex follows a classical and contemporary approach with distinguished design elements integrated into spaces, highlighting the essence of the extravaganza. Chromed Design Studio fashions this complex adhering to the theme of a maze, extracted from the literal meaning of ‘Dorrance’, or, intriguingly, with design components igniting curiosity in its visitors to explore the dramatics of every space.
The 10,000 sq. ft. area is split into five distinct spaces, the main club, the cafe, an open kitchen, an open terrace or family restaurant, and a cigar room, with every zone, delivering enriching experiences for guests. The areas were curated according to the two diverging crowds of the city, namely, the corporate crowd and the family crowd. While the club area attracts the young, the outdoor family lounge and cafe here allure the family crowd of the city.
Dorrance invites its guests through an intriguing tunnel bound together with arches, and plants suspended alongside, leading them towards the main door. A total of 15 patterned arches hold the entrance together that light up in the evening, with one side enabling the guests to get a glimpse of the semi-covered cafe and the other side covered with green planters. A soft drape acts as a partition between the entrance tunnel and the cafe, allowing for a visual connection between these two spaces. The tunnel is the visitors’ first point of contact with the tangible part of the design, and the careful amalgamation of the key design elements — a soft drape, brightly lit arches, and planters — gives a photogenic backdrop to the guests, thus enhancing their first experience in Dorrance.
The entrance tunnel flows towards a series of doors, creating a sense of mystery in the ambience. The main door opens into a small entrance foyer which reveals three more doors, each one leading the visitors to a specific space. Each door along with the main door is demarcated with a specific face card — the King for the main door, Jack for the door leading to the club, Queen for the family lounge, and Joker for the cigar room, — which engages the user with the space and compels them to open the doors. The flooring of the foyer area follows a radial pattern with customised marble in black, white, and grey colours. Black Enissle tiles, White Satvario tiles, and Grey William tiles were cut and shaped to create a radial pattern, thus accentuating the captivating charm of the theme.
The club is the central feature, that ties the design, and the guests together, with unique elements outlining the spatial quality of the club. An island bar occupies the heart of the club alongside the dance floor, with VIP seatings arranged along the walls covered in bold shades lending a classical touch to the space. The double height of the club enabled experimentation with the walls and the ceiling. The ceiling of the club was treated with utmost care and has been highlighted with eccentric lighting. Ornamental chandeliers have been actively incorporated to enhance the ceiling, with one large chandelier suspended over the bar and smaller 30-inch chandeliers arranged at strategic locations. A false ceiling drops 8 inches from the roof, hiding the fire conduits, and embedded with strip lights running around in various artsy patterns. The innovative use of dimmers controlled by VMX aids in controlling the illumination of the various lighting fixtures — strip lights and chandeliers — and skillfully brings forth the club’s party mood. The acoustics of this club is upheld with HDMR boards that were fixed to the walls with 20ft glazings. Artworks and designer elements were hung from the walls with accent lighting fixtures adding to the celebratory aesthetic of the club.
A cigar room was designed as an alternative approach to a traditional office space. This room served as a space to carry out their business meetings while being flexible to hold private and informal gatherings. The versatility of the design allowed for incorporating a wine cellar with shelves for storing documents, giving the clients the freedom to use the space as per their preference, thus changing the culture of typical office design.
Converging the kitchen and the family lounge area, Dorrance attracts the families of Faridabad with the addition of spatial features aligned with the inclination of the crowd. The 800 sq. ft. family area is divided into outdoor seating (500 sq. ft.) and an open indoor kitchen (300 sq. ft.). The outdoor terrace seating holds a small stage for events with patterned lit arches and high seatings running along the perimeter of the space, lending a mellow, cosy aesthetic to the terrace.
Dorrance is a confluence of several distinct vibes, resonating with the city crowd visiting the spaces, that is consciously infused to fabricate transcending experiences loaded with a sense of mystery and curiosity. The innovation in the treatment of spaces, their elements, and functions breaks the conventional approach to club design and delivers a charismatic celebratory setting for the patrons of the club.
