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IDEA Foundry – A Lego Inspired Pre-school Office Design | Mind Manifestation Design

IDEA Foundry – A Lego Inspired Pre-school Office Design | Mind Manifestation Design

Site being a rooftop terrace covered with a temporary structure, choices of material to suit the economics, functionality, and aesthetics was the foremost challenge of the project.

Jumpstart Pre-School office interestingly stands in a busy area surrounded by a Tech park on one side and a famous eatery on another. The pre-school structure is blessed with ample natural light which has been used copiously in the project. With the rooftop area lying unused for long, the owners approached Mind Manifestation Design with the hope of converting it into a perennial space.   

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Space had to be designed in a way that would seem welcoming to the parents coming to enroll their kids as well as visually appealing to their tiny tots.  A clever union of old and new elements to bring forth the prime focus of the kindergarten – Education, and Play – has been the underlying foundation behind the design process.

We decided to retain the existing blue-toned ceramic mosaic floor of the space with little refurbishments and plan the design interventions suitably around it. The use of natural wood with bold color palette, and the built interventions using refurbished old material with least built impact to flow with the surrounding and proposed landscape within the premises were the key considerations to drive the project.

Zoning:

An Office: CEO’s lighthouse and A multipurpose space: IDEA Foundry, the functions beings significantly distinguished in nature and the site geometrically allowing separation of two functions with a common staircase and a cozy waiting lobby in between, we dedicated one for each. With the given preschool context, said functions in the given brief are playfully distributed in the available carpet with a fresh and young colored envelope in order to redefine the user experience.

IDEA FOUNDRY:

A Lego-inspired multipurpose composition with media setup at times acts as an amphitheater or a casual sit out or a fun place for kids to explore, same time taking care of the storage requirement of the space. Again the colour gradient scheme of the composition is the subtle derivation of the original floor mosaic colour palette. Space is actively used by the school for staff training, kid’s recreation, movie screenings, tutorial sessions, social gatherings, etc.

CEO’s Lighthouse:

The Owner’s requirement of their own Signature Corner within the premises to meet and greet their prospective clients. Again the approach here is the same with a playful fun place to arrange a few workstations with a variety of sitting possibilities. Site being a rooftop terrace covered with a temporary structure, choices of material to suit the economics, functionality, and aesthetics was the foremost challenge of the project.

The Pivoted Facade:

Covering of the sides of the premises which is temporary in nature yet allows the cut-off from excessive sunlight and neighbouring noise brought in the concept of metal pivoted fin facade. As per requirement of the comfortable working condition in usable carpet this facade allows numerous possibilities of light penetration and controlled wind condition. Aesthetically the facade plays significant role to create the interesting play of light and shadow.

The schools in the 90s had typical symbolic elements that are in the subconscious memories of kids of that era. Considering the age group of the visitors we tried to insert some of such nostalgic elements that rewinds the school time memories of visitors from regional India.

Typical handpicked elements from the typical principle’s cabin are interpreted in today’s modern minimal design language. Caricature of educational leaders, selective antique elements, classical furniture in natural wood and cane set the mood of the CEO’s cabin.

The older version of school bell is depicted through a similar system, the Principal uses it as a call bell. Typical design of “abacus” is interpreted in the main workstation table which takes care of its aesthetics same time adds the flavour to the purpose of the space. Other elements from school like, the slates, card boards, the speakers, signage systems etc. are significantly sited within the premises to make part of the original design scheme same time giving the feel of nostalgia in the minds of visitors.

The terrace is covered with the unplanned fabricated roof structure and the presence of rooftop level services required a smart solution to hide those. To tackle the same along with noise and heat reduction at the roof level, the idea of skyline diffusers came into the picture. The site was stored with plenty of pallets that we separated and used to form an additional layer between the roof and the habitable spaces below. This resulted in heat and noise reduction to some extent, same time giving an aesthetic appeal to the entire carpet and a sense of continuity between both the spaces.

FACT FILE :

Firm: Mind Manifestation Design

Project type: Adaptive reuse of a rooftop terrace of a preschool  

Project name: Workspace on Rooftop

Location: Pune, Maharastra, India  

Principal Architect: Ar. Chetan Lahoti, Ar. Anand Deshmukh

Execution team: Space it up 

Year built: 2019

Size: sq feet : 850sqft  

Photograph courtesy: Hemant patil

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