Office In A Shed | MuseLAB - The Architects Diary

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Office In A Shed | MuseLAB

We recently completed a 3000 sqft G+1 office building for Zarhak steels. The most exciting thing about this project was the context. We were given the brief of constructing the building inside an existing 50,000 sqft shed. The site was identified in one corner of the shed so that the workings of the factory were not hindered with (there are cranes on tracks in the ceiling).

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The brief was simple – we had to design a functional office with two directors cabins, a conference room overlooking the main workshop space and an accounts area on the first floor. The ground floor was to provide seating for 10 staff, a discussion room, a factory manager’s cabin and a pantry along with toilets.

The Architecture

The L-shaped layout of the building had a shorter flange which housed the entrance at the lower level. The facade is a simple organization of textured panels in light and dark grey paint, interspersed with doors, windows, and fixed panels in ply. What was important was the continuity of the grooves irrespective of the material, panels, or fenestrations. The doors and windows (fixed and openable) were made in ply and sealed with an MRF protective coat. All the glass was insulated DGU to reduce sound pollution inside the office space.

The L-shaped layout is softened at the bend with a curve that holds a large bent glass panel. On the ground floor, the bent glass reveals the teal profile of the staircase form while on the first floor, it becomes a part of the circulation to the conference room. The form can be defined as pure and minimal; the glass panels of the doors and windows act as visual connects of the outside to the inside; in one way, it maintains some form of transparency between the employers and the employees and at the same time, it gives the former a sense of privacy.

The Construction methodology

The construction technology employed was Quickbuild Beardsell panels which is a new-age eco-friendly construction system. This was the first time we dabble with this technique and hence we had to undergo a process of trial and error. There were several positives to the entire process – the walls were only 5” thick as were made in thermocol and steel mesh finished with interior and exterior plaster of a pre-approved grade. The ceiling and floor slabs were also made in the same material with the same thicknesses.

Given that we were in charge of the architecture and the interiors, we incorporated all the services within the walls of the structure itself. Thus, we avoided unnecessary false ceilings and breakage at the time of doing the interiors.

The Interiors

The interiors are simple and extremely functional as the clients had asked for it to be maintenance-free. We used a palette of grey, ivory, beige with bursts of teal, and teakwood for space. The entire floor of the office space comprised of large 4’x2’ full-bodied textured grey vitrified tiles from Nitco. The pantry, staff toilets, and director toilet walls were applied with teal beveled glossy subway tiles.

A standard detail was applied for storage cabinets which were finished in beige and ivory colour laminates respectively. The door framers and the directors desks for all in matte finished teakwood. The staircase, also built using the Quickbuild method forming architecturally simple yet dynamic element.

The conference table is a large 12 footer which was owned by the client. We restored/ refurbished the table that is ornate yet adaptable to the interiors of the space. There are minimal accessories within the space which is further decorated with geometrical wall art that is meticulously curated for each space inside the office.

FACT FILE:

Firm: MuseLAB

Project Name: Office In A Shed

Client: zarhak steels

Designers: Huzefa Rangwala, Jasem Pirani and Jeet soneji

Area: 3000 Sqft

Location: Taloja, Maharashtra

Completion: 2020

Photography: Talib Chitalwala