Wacky Workspace: WATConsult, Mumbai

WATConsult is a young digital and social media agency. The company has grown from a strength of 4 to 200 in just a couple of years. Connect -Converse- Collaborate- Co create are the 4 Cs that the firm works around. The three key players the CEO, COO and CFO are young and dynamic, and wanted a space their team would enjoy working in. A simple brief followed: ‘make a fun, contemporary office space – professional yet peppy. We want our team to love working here, so create a space where they can think creatively, and ideate.’ 

I used the company’s ideology to develop the theme, and the principals of the firm were involved hands-on in the creative process and hence this is a collaborative effort of creating a space with multiple areas for conversations, a space that both the team and the clients can feel connected to. The idea thus evolved to create a pristine white space. We gave the reception a white blanket and used colours as sparks in the space to add character.  For an office with most staff under 30 we created the workspace with a dash of orange and blue. These two colours were the primary colours of the company’s branding and were hence woven into the theme.

The key to any project being successful also lies in timely execution in a pocket-friendly budget. We could achieve the same as we embraced the modular furniture system concept for the office. The same was executed by Kings Furniture Works – brand ‘Knockout - my in-house modular furniture company. This system worked beautifully as design and execution worked simultaneously and we could offer the client all the necessary utilities with the flexibility of a modular system. The future of design to me is definitely in the modular concept; curtailing onsite delays and ensuring standardization, flexibility and accuracy.

The double-height space in the office was a dream-come-true though it had its share of heavy rain/ heat issues. We used the staircase leading to the executive area in this double height space as the company’s campaign – its mission. The CEO truly believed that each one of his team is a Superhero and hence we developed the SuperHero theme in close collaboration with their very talented team of graphic designers and skilled artists from Studio Seaweed.

Often budget constraints affected the process, and thus some old elements like the metal staircase and a few cupboards were repurposed for use in the new space. In doing this, I could use my creativity with a burst of colours that added personality to the primarily white space. Being an ad agency a creative and quirky touch was natural in the ambience, so we experimented with various types of lights in the interior. From Kettles – symbolic of serving Digital Ideas to Thinking Hats - represing the brainstorming sessions in the conference room - lights are seen adding a wacky touch of fun and colour to the ambience!

In the last couple of years that I have done office interiors I have hardly seen one that allots a separate game zone and a 50 seater café. We incorporated a Play Station, a TT table, and a foosball table. The team and their space were given far more time and attention than the cabins – a situation one rarely encounters in office space design.