Inside the dynamic workplace of TheDesignCODE, Mumbai .
For an interior designer, designing one’s own office is a sacred dream, an ambitious challenge, and a journey to attain perfection in every corner. With a similar dream, Interior Designer Prashant Jain and Pareen Kariya stitched their office at Charni Road, Mumbai, piece by piece, to achieve a dynamic and fluid work environment. The office is a blend of industrial rustiness and vibrant color tones and acts as an exhibit of design explorations and workmanship.
Inspired from the streets of Milan, the L-shaped entrance area in the office sees walls with hexagonal paver tiles cladding and rose gold metal linen sheets, punctuated with hexagonal metal frames and vertical greens. The two ends of the corridor lead us to two doors to enter the office.
Upon entering, one door greets with a house-shaped waiting area and a peak-a-boo into the working army of the office. The waiting area is emphasized with a triangular patterned veneer wall paneling terminating at the ceiling, where each piece of triangle is carefully placed to achieve the overall look. A black mat finished tabletop, made of 20 mm stone-like tile slab, and colorful legs are the center of the space. This central table acts as an incidental space, for tea breaks, lunch, and design discussions. The individual work desks are separated with translucent partitions for privacy. The idea was to provide liberty to work from individual comfort zones, like the confined private desk or the incidental discussion table, for better creative performance. The other door opens into the main cabin, aka designers den.
The main cabin is an elegant double-height den of marble cladding, fashionably folding its way from walls to ceiling and back to walls. It is a rear sight to see marble slabs hanging from the ceiling. Vertical planter wall, leather couches, trunk coffee tables, bending lights of designer’s desk and wall art of flying birds break the monotony of the space, while also displaying the architect’s readiness to experiment with the status quo.
Another cabin, sitting at the opposite edge has large glass walls to allow for transparency and visual permeability. It is designed in a down-to-earth tone, with PU and marble finish white tabletops and furniture pieces that avoid pointed corners.
A staircase takes one to the mezzanine floor, which accommodates a cabin, a working space, a pantry, and a powder room. Due to height constraints, the upper floor is devoid of a false ceiling and ceiling light fixtures. The mezzanine floor is lit with wall mounted lights entirely. Clean lines and sleek features are juxtaposed over the pantry to achieve a simple yet functional area. The minimal cabin on the first floor is to entertain design discussions. Another marble tabletop with a wall-mounted mini-table over it is supported by a metal frame positioned in the center of the cabin, with a wooden finish floor, a white ceiling, and a blue wall cabinet.
Olive tiles and sonata grey marble, like a classic combination, adorn the walls of the powder room. All the sanitary fittings are kept black. A string of light runs horizontally, along with the olive tiles that act as a task as well as ambient light.
Each space within the office setting is a completely different world, stitched to each other in contemporary ways. The entire office is designed keeping in mind the comfort of people that will be working here. The design also speaks for the architect’s fondness with geometric patterns and lines that can be seen sometimes on floors, other times on walls.
In a city like Mumbai, where space crunch is part and parcel of people’s lives, this office is moderately spacious, provides a comfortable working environment, and designed based on an open-office concept, minimal wall barriers, and transparent workspaces. More importantly, the office allows for multiple workstations and discussion areas, two important aspects of a creative space. In the end, the designers are able to use their office to showcase their craft and passion towards designing interiors, in dynamic yet subtle ways, on floors, on walls, over ceilings, and curated furniture and artifacts pieces.
“The idea was to provide liberty to work from individual comfort zones, like the confined private desk or the incidental discussion table, for better creative performance.”
Project by - TheDesignCODE, Mumbai
