Sweet Shop Design With Playful Facade | Saransh Architects
Sweet shop evoking a nostalgic sense of heritage in an urban fabric.
KBM Sweet Shop is the primary retail outlet of a prominent traditional sweets and savouries manufacturer, based in Ahmedabad. The project involved the renovation of their pre-existing building’s facade and interior.
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The KBM brand being 174 years old, originated in the old city of Ahmedabad and a look at the historic and articulate brickwork throughout the old city, channeled the specific material and techniques for the facade. One of the inspirations for the facade design was the texture of Indian sweets which is created by the multiplication of a single unit ingredient. Bricks become the ‘ingredient’ here to create the texture.
The site is situated in the center of the city on a wide road opposite one of the city’s stadiums, giving the building ample visibility. The undulating brick facade design aims to make it a landmark. The developed form softens all the edges of the building and creates a playful facade, resulting in a red textured layer, enabling it to stand out amongst an otherwise white and grey neighborhood.
Though the facade is heavily guided by the existing building, a Ferro-cement skin was erected to envelop it in a fluid form, reinforcing the building, while also acting as an insulation. On the ground, the walls extend beyond the building like a fort wall, and host an arched gateway, further relating to the sense of entry typical to the old city.
From the inside, the shop is envisaged as a ‘gallery’ for sweets. The interior intends to act as a neutral backdrop to an inventory so vibrant and colorful, effectively disappearing in the visual plane, allowing the products to stand out.
Display counters for the sweets were specifically customized in solid-acrylic, bearing in mind the size, quantity, and texture of the sweets, allowing each product equal importance and visibility. The display includes only samples of each, while all the bulk packaging remains in the service areas, behind the ‘gallery’, provided to the customers upon an order of the same.
The finely grained terrazzo flooring, the relief plaster on the wall, and the curved edges of the niches, all relate to a palette of the past, carried forward from the origins of the brand, while still holding the relatively modern solid-acrylic display counters, showcasing the sweets as ‘artifacts’.
This deliberately intended contrast between the raw exterior and the finished interior occurring at the threshold greatly accentuates the difference of watching the visual harmony of the bricks from the outside and being a part of a carefully curated ‘sweet gallery’ on the inside.
Fact File:
Firm: Saransh Architects
Client: Kandoi Bhogilal Mulchand
Typology: Retail
Program: Sweet Shop
Location: Ahmedabad
Status: Completed 2019
Built-Up Area: 3350 sq.ft
Design Lead: Neel Jain
Design Team: kaveesha Shah, Manish Doshi, Malay Doshi, Arihant Bajaj, Swaroop Suthar
Photography: PHX India| Ira Gosalia
About Firm:
Saransh is an architectural partnership studio based in Ahmedabad, India, operating in the fields of architecture, planning, and interior design. The studio was founded in 1994 by Manish and Malini Doshi – architects, and alumni of CEPT University. Saransh currently employs a full-time staff of 16 architects and interior designers, in addition to longstanding collaborative relationships with a number of consultants and agencies from allied fields; together, these teams help us achieve a precise execution of the assignment at hand.
With the addition of Kaveesha Shah, Malay Doshi, Neel Jain, and Purvi Tank we are now stepping into the next phase of our practice – expanding, diversifying and streamlining in tune with the sensibilities and requirements of a rapidly expanding clientele. Saransh –under the ambit of its Architecture, Design, Foundation, Labs and Urbanism domains – is addressing the larger concerns of urban impact and environmental sustainability through the newer additions to its extensive portfolio.
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