In an era where workplaces increasingly chase trends, MakeSpace Architects approached NM Office with a different ambition: to create an environment that embodies continuity. MakeSpace Architects designed the office for a leading South Indian automobile dealership with decades of industry presence, creating more than just a functional workplace. The design expresses the family’s legacy while reflecting the business’s growth across generations. The dealership has remained rooted in tradition while adapting to changing markets and contemporary ways of working. Instead of using symbolic gestures or direct references to the automotive industry, the architects express this story through spatial organisation, material choices, and atmosphere. The design reflects the company’s established identity while supporting its evolving future. NM Office ultimately balances heritage and contemporary workplace culture through a thoughtful and cohesive design approach.
From Legacy to Momentum: An Automobile Dealership Office by MakeSpace Architects | MakeSpace Architects
“We wanted architecture to communicate inheritance without becoming nostalgic,” says co-founder & principal architect Naina Reddy. “The office had to acknowledge the company’s history while keeping its focus firmly on the future. We used design as a medium for continuity rather than commemoration.” The resulting automobile dealership headquarters brings this idea to life by creating a clear coexistence of two worlds.
The plan is divided into an Executive Wing and a Workstation Wing. A central reception space connects the two, acting as both a physical and symbolic threshold. This clear zoning strategy establishes a hierarchy without creating isolation, allowing leadership and operations to maintain distinct identities. At the same time, both wings remain connected as part of a larger organisational ecosystem.
At the heart of the office, the reception becomes more than an arrival space. It functions as a moment of transition, bridging the formal and informal, the inherited and the evolving, the strategic and the operational. “The reception became the project’s anchor,” explains Rajat Sanghvi.
“Instead of designing a neutral circulation zone, we treated it as a mediator between two contrasting environments. It creates a sense of movement through different cultures of work that exist within the same organisation.” Moving through the office feels like moving between two distinct yet interconnected worlds.
The Executive Wing unfolds as a sequence of composed, intimate spaces where scale becomes progressively more personal. Timber wraps walls, storage and architectural elements into a continuous language, creating an environment that feels less like a corporate office and more like a place shaped by years of accumulated knowledge and leadership. The warmth of wood, the weight of carefully proportioned furniture and the absence of visual clutter lend the spaces a quiet confidence. Here, materiality is atmospheric, establishing a sense of permanence that reflects the legacy of the family business.
Natural light filters through large openings, grazing textured surfaces and revealing subtle variations in tone throughout the day. As the light changes, so does the character of the rooms, softening the formality often associated with executive spaces and introducing a sense of calm. Across the reception threshold, the mood shifts perceptibly.
The Workstation Wing is conceived as a more collective and energetic landscape for the automobile dealership, where openness and interaction drive the spatial experience. Long communal desks establish a rhythm across the floorplate, while discussion pods and enclosed meeting areas create moments of pause within the larger workspace. Overhead, a gridded ceiling creates a strong visual order, drawing the eye through the space and reinforcing the collaborative nature of the dealership’s work environment.
Darker finishes, exposed elements and robust materials bring an industrial character to the interiors, yet the environment never feels harsh. Instead, transparency, daylight and carefully framed sightlines create a workplace that feels connected, adaptable and alive with activity. Rather than treating the two wings as opposing identities, MakeSpace Architects uses contrast as a design tool.
“One side of the office is centred around leadership and decision-making, while the other is focused on collaboration and execution,” says Sanghvi. “The architecture acknowledges these differences while ensuring they remain connected through a shared spatial framework.”
Natural light and cross ventilation were treated as design drivers rather than technical afterthoughts. Existing openings and balconies were carefully integrated into the planning, creating a workplace that is both efficient and uplifting. The strategy reflects MakeSpace Architects’ broader commitment to context-driven, experiential design.
“For us, minimalism is never about reduction for its own sake,” reflects Reddy. “It is about allowing the essential qualities of a space to emerge. In this project, that meant creating an environment where people could feel the presence of the company’s history while engaging with the demands of the present.”
The completed automobile dealership office becomes a spatial portrait of an organisation in transition, not from old to new, but from one generation to the next. Through careful planning, restrained materiality, and a nuanced understanding of workplace culture, MakeSpace Architects has crafted a headquarters that balances the dealership’s legacy and evolving industry with memory and momentum.
In doing so, NM Office demonstrates how architecture can become a vessel for continuity— carrying forward the values of the past while creating a framework for the future.
Fact File
Designed by: MakeSpace Architects
Project Type: Office Interior Dsign
Project Name: NM Office
Location: Jubilee Hills Hyderabad
Year Built: 2025
Duration of the Project: 5 Months
Built-up Area: 5000 Sq.ft
Project Cost: 2.5 Crore
Principal Architects: Rajat Sanghvi & Naina Vishnu Reddy
Photograph Courtesy: Endless forms
Interior Styling: Shradha Nayak.
Products / Materials / Vendors: Finishes: wood, Concrete, Granite, carpets, spc. Terrazo / Wallcovering / Cladding: Nuance cladding , Arte wallpaper, Darpan furnishings / Lighting: Hybec ( Beyond lights) / Furniture: Sunon, Featherlite, Custom.Flooring: Shaws Carpet , DuPont SpC / Paint: Asian Paints / Hardware: Dormakaba
Firm’s Website Link: MakeSpace Architects
Firm’s Instagram Link: MakeSpace Architects
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