An unusual brief “Car displays, inevitably are ‘parking-lots’! Give us a nice back drop for the product display” and a strategic urban location, which smacked the main street of the city became the architectural direction and the determining design parameters. The brief was to insert the whole gamut of program for a middle-segment brand in a 12,000 sq ft old warehouse. The showroom abuts the main street with no set back, having a 60m long, uninterrupted façade. The ensuing architectural response did exactly the opposite of brief, by positioning the ‘parking-lot’ (vehicular display) as the ‘raison detre’ and the anchoring element in the showroom.
The disposition of the showroom posed a unique architectural challenge to create a 360 degree viewing, as the façade abuts the road and the customers enter from the backside of the showroom. Unlike most of the stores, which are designed for front viewing, here the design has to address the changing experiential views of the spectator. The wrap, which merges the floor, wall, ceiling and the products into a single, unified entity establishes the vital link between the showroom, the display and the people in the showroom on one hand and the speeding traffic and the passer-bys on the street - a 60 m ‘Billboard’ mimicking the flux of movement on the street.
The ‘hanging counters’ are the customer interfaces in the showroom, which are hung from the ceiling as the name indicates. These could be slid and rotated to a new position to maneuver the vehicles in the space. The sinusoidal curve separates the private domains-lounges from the public area. The spiral stair is also equally ‘engineered’ with custom fabricated, 3 dimensionally profiled cantilevered steps.
1. Cafe 2. Workshop 3. Service Customer 4. Visitor’s Lounge 5. Ladies Toilet 6. Visitors Entry 7. Office 8. Car Entry 9. Customer Interface 10. Gents Toilet 11. Pantry 12. Manager 13. Show Room 14. Meeting 15. Elevated Show room 16. Lounge 17. UPS room 18. GM show room 19. Reception 20. GM Customer Service 21. Cahsier 22. Back Office 23. GM Admin 24. Accesories
Client
KTC HUYNDAI
Area
12,000 Sq ft
Completion
2007
Firm
Collaborative Architecture, Mumbai
Project Team
Lalita Tharani, Mujib Ahmed, Shoukat, Sandhya
Photography
Lalita Tharani + Ajeeb
Design
Lalita Tharani & Mujib Ahmed
Principal Architects
Lalita Tharani & Mujib Ahmed
2007
Bienal Miami | First Hon Mention
2007
A + D SPECTRUM Innovative Interior Award | Commedation Award
2007
IIID (Indian Institute of Interior Designers) Award | Retail Spaces | Winner
2007
BETTER INTERIORS Innovation Award | Retail Spaces | Winner