Concrete Elegance

- Sanjukta Nandy

After having worked with architect Ashish Kesurvala, principal of Ahmedabad based SAK Designs, on their previous office space QuadTech — an international, print, performance corporate — once again approached him to design and execute their corporate office in Gandhi nagar. The client initially had reservations about Ashish’s concept of ‘demolishing the old for a new beginning’, which required 90 per cent of the structure to be remade. But Ashish had a clear vision of an innovative environment with an emphasis on a simple, contemporary yet vibrant space with copious natural light, hence the demolition of the old industrial structure was imperative to see it through. He stood his ground, and eventually quelled the client’s fears and today triumphantly looks back upon the project musing, “I guess this is the design story for every project in an architect’s journey.”

Upon being awarded the project on the foundation of his past merit with the client, he headed to the USA to meet with the president of the company and experience for himself the style, setup and aesthetics of QuadTech’s primary office. The client set specifications on the functionality and requirements while the architect was given carte blanche to design the ambience and aesthetics of the Indian branch,  which of course needed to be at par with all their international branches.