Located in Chennai metropolitan at a close proximity to city’s transit hub, the site is approached from a highly buzzing Poonamalli high road. Three key components- a marketing office, an Experience centre and a Construction site office are the core of the facility.
Project Name: Marketing office and Experience Centre
Location: Koyembedu, Chennai
Site Area: 0.75 Acre
Built-up Area: 0.20 Lac sft
No of Floors: 1
Status: Completed
Year of Completion:2021
Project Team (CnT): Amit Rastogi, Karthik P Nair, Anupama Rao
Consultants: Metal Queen (Structure), Mukund Associates (Plumbing), Lite Lab (Lighting Design), Oikos (Landscape)
Photography: Andre Fanthome, Amit Rastogi
‘‘Journey through the project reveals intricately detailed spatial sequences carefully crafted by the thoughtful blend of Architecture, Landscape and Interior design. Both the picture frames and experiences unfold in layers to keep the visitor captivated & intrigued throughout.’’
A landscaped plaza at the approach creates a tranquil arrival experience for a visitor. With it’s tall perimeter, the Plaza also works out as the interface between city and the main program, protecting the later from the unwanted buzz. At the point of arrival, one gets a glimpse of Intricate roof canopy of marketing office hovering above plaza feature wall, creating a sense of mystery for what lies ahead.
‘Marketing office’ is approached through a curved alley; which after meandering through lush green guides visitor to an arrival court revealing full view of the structure. Architectural form of marketing office is conceived as an expansive canopy supported on slender and tall metal columns; sheltering various pods beneath it. Pods contain airconditioned spaces for various programs like reception, gallery, media room, coffee kiosk, customer studios etc. They are although arranged in a free plan form, define a natural movement spine through them. A series of skylights & intricate ceiling design along the spine reinforce its position and enriches user’s experience of moving through the space. A centrally placed lounge on the spine, near the coffee kiosk becomes the pause point; a large ring light fixture above matches to the circular shape of custom designed sofa.
The ‘Experience centre’ is accessed through a landscape buffer placed at the end of marketing office. Steps in landscape transition in to a scaled down movement spine; which relates to the scale of an apartment lobby leading to three model apartment prototypes put on display here. Placement of model apartments is juxtaposed with various semi open and open public spaces to create a very engaging and enthralling environment. Various installations & info graphics are strategically placed along the path and at important nodes to catch and hold user’s attention.
At the end of experience centre a discreetly placed entryway leads in to the ‘Construction site office’. Visitors are escorted through the back-office area showcasing the due importance given to work space design for the construction team and finally arriving on to a viewing deck which is positioned at the end of spine to get a 180-degree view of the under construction residential township which is rapidly rising up in the background.
Environmental impact: Life span of this facility is five years, post which it will be dismantled. Hence, majority of the structure is designed in steel for recyclability and reuse. The modular structural elements are going to be used for another project of the developer, making this project as sustainable as possible. All the circulation spaces are well shaded and allow a lot of cross breezes, essential for comfort in hot humid weather of Chennai. Thus reducing air conditioning to the minimum.
