The Expand Loft
Design Firm: Quirk Studio
Principal Designers: Disha Bhavsar & Shivani Ajmera
Location: Mumbai, India
Project Typology: Workspace
Photographer: Pulkit Sehgal
A neoteric office space completed in March 2020; The Expand Loft by Quirk Studio is a corporate office designed for an event management company. The open-plan 2,400 sq ft office is a concoction of elements that give the workspace a vibrant, exuberant & inviting persona. Envisioned for a company that engages intrinsically with its clients' kudos to the nature of their services, the office space needed to employ a design scheme that was encouraging of interaction & collaboration.
The roughly 14-foot-high ceilings imbue the space with a sense of expanse which is further enhanced by floor-to-ceiling fenestrations offering abundant natural light & panoramic views of the city. The design identity of the space is centered around the industrial-style which is interspersed with bold hues of yellow, green & red tones that creates a welcome contrast against the overall neutral base - the result is an ingenious workspace with an impactful visual narrative. A sunny yellow as a hue is celebrated across the space in welcome doses & emphasizes the company’s very own brand identity as it happens to be a key colour in their logo & branding.
In terms of its spatial configuration, the office has been designed in the shell of the built floor to offer its inhabitants a functional, free flowing & pragmatic layout of zones. The designated private cabins have been allocated peripheral positions in the layout. A suave monochrome identity, ergonomic sleek furniture & foliage sprinkled around the cabins make them conducive to the team’s comfort & design ethos of the office. Key areas like the conference & meeting room have a flexible layout that helps the end-users utilize the space in a versatile manner through the use of mobile partition systems. Services & community spaces like the open pantry and cafeteria have been flanked to one side of the layout.
The central lounge space acts as the heart of the office where the team members can congregate effectively & work flexibly. The open zone in the office also anchors the large hot desk section, booth seating & a semi-formal arrangement for lounging using statement furniture and a quaint swing; conjuring a space that acts as a nucleus for conversation & rejuvenation. The ubiquitous usage of glass across the office creates a sense of visual seamlessness in the volume, giving it a larger appearance.
The office open pantry & cafeteria is a spot designed with an ebullient spirit! A sunny yellow hue bathes the walls & ceiling of this section making it a lively nook for the employees to enjoy mealtimes & brainstorming sessions. A community table, patterned floor tiles, quirky bar stools & a thematic lightbox with the phrase - ‘feed your dreams’ are the pivotal design highlights of the space. Cement-finished surfaces, bold pops of colour, arched geometry, focal light fixtures & an intriguing play of materials in various forms create the nuanced design palette at the office.
The Expand Loft places its end-user’s comfort, productivity & quality of life at the crux of the design process. This has resulted in the creation of a workspace that bears the potential to evolve with its user’s needs while creating the quintessential minimal collaborative space for the enthusiastic team.
This piece was published on Architecture + Design (January-February 2021) and Design Essentia (July-August 2021).
