COWORKING SPACES

AA

CASE STUDY

AASTHA GULHANE
T.Y.(DIV- B)
 CREC,
COWORKING
BA RC E LO N A , S PA I N

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 Click icon to add picture
•
Premises Complete Rehabilitation,
2017
•
I Surface: 700m²
N •
T Status: Completed
R •
O Location: Barcelona, Spain
D •
U The Team
Architects: Andrea Serboli, Matteo
C Colombo (Architects)
TI Project Managers: Erica Espinosa,
O Monika Palosz for Meep Studio
N • The project
Crec Example is the second
coworking space designed by CaSA
for CREC, leading company in
coworking in Barcelona.
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 LOCATION
BA RC E LO N A , S PA I N

•
Located a few steps away from
central Plaza Catalunya, its 700sq
meters of surface divided between
street level and basement, provide
as by brief of the client a wide
variety of working environments for
different needs for over 110 people

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 CONCEPT
ENTRANCE
• The empty space revealed valuable features, such
as two sets of slender cast iron columns with
composite style capitals and three big
openings toward the street formerly walled or
obscured with adhesive elements

• To create an open, fresh, uncluttered work

environment, highlighting the existing elements

• A neutral light grey surface as base (epoxy paint

flooring) on which architectural volumes are
placed: geometrical shaped colour blocks based
on a carefully studied palette, that will embody
the space utilities and functions.

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 The kitchen/canteen is
outlined in dark red metallic
KITCHEN/CANTEEN lines, a red tubes structure
that wraps around one of
the ancient columns. Two
lines of globe lamps light
the area from, both hanging
from the ridge of the
structure and placed as
appliques on the tiled wall.
Colour also dominates the
interior of the boxes, by
using paint in contrast or
through ceramic materials,
as on the kitchen walls or in
the toilets, hosted by a blue
house-shaped volume, and
both lined with simple grey
10x10 tiles by Vogue (
Interni collection).

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 RELAX AREA/FLEX Click icon to add picture
AREA
• On street side, the flex area is placed along the
volume of the entrance hall, externally painted in
a light pink colour. Its long table is lit by a
suspended LED tube system, Moon by DLLUM.

• Opposite to the pink volume, two boots clad in

plywood and internally painted in shades of
green and teal, provide room for quiet
conference calls.

• A relax area, featuring furniture and lamps by

KETTAL is placed between these volumes and the
street windows. A Second relax area, also
featuring Kettal Roll armchairs, Objects Table and
Outdoor Lamps is placed between the kitchen
and the wedge-shaped saffron volume of the
staircase.
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 S TA I R C A S E
• The triangular volume of the staircase appears through the floor,
punctured by the white columns that go trough its slope. Once
through the door the space is completely pink. This volume links
the ground floor to the basement area, dedicated to closed
offices.
• Once through the door the space is completely pink.

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 OFFICE

• Each office is shaped as a house and has separate

entrance. Opposite the four blue house shaped offices
there’s a meeting room, completely painted in red, and
at the extreme of the plan, a conference room that fits
up to fifty people.

• On both floors the bright yellow air conditioning

pipes unify the space with a strong gesture by floating
above all the elements.

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 EXIT

• Had the exit being different from the entrance, to duplicate the
halls would take away workspace. Architects opted to treat this
limitation as an architectural theme, by using the same fire
escape corridor as the entrance: a charcoal-coloured tube with
LED lines and the company’s motto “això és coworking” (this is
coworking) welcomes the visitors behind the glazed sliding door.

•
Once crossed this dark corridor one lands - through a diagonally
cut volume - in the colourful, central part of the ground floor
area that hosts the services.

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 AICL
COWORKING
MUMBAI,INDIA

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 INTRODUCTION
LO C AT I O N

Project Name : AICL Mumbai Workplace

Location : Andheri West , Mumbai, India

Sector : Interiors, Furniture

Services : Interiors, Furniture

Built Area : (m2 or sqft).- 500 sqm

Clients : AICL Communications

Status : Completed

Date : 2019

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 CONCEPT
CONCEPT
• Since creative methods have a lot of ‘fuzzy thinking’ we conceptualised
this thought process into a mix of ‘fuzzy spaces’ for the new AICL
workplace.

• The central heart of the fuzzy spaces is the large double height library,
the living lounge and the stepped amphitheater spaces which all
overlap spatially as well as programmatically during large events and
talks that the agency holds both for in house learning as well as an
open exchange platform to bring varied external inputs

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 • By using the office’s large open plan style
layout, we create a series of overlapping
programs alternating between living, work and
DESIGN PROCESS landscape spaces.
•
Metal and laminate storages along the wall are
used as a gradient of colours to generate
splash of fun in an otherwise minimal and
neutral material palette.
• Overall the entire space is made in an open
plan and modular way to ensure flexibility of
changing desks or adding further seating if
AICL grows further.
• There is an equal emphasis in overlapping of
different programs over all the spaces
including the outside ones, so that events,
meetings, working and fun things can be
interspersed all across and each and every
space gets used in with a fresh ideas making
the entire working environment as much
‘Fuzzy’ as it can be.
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 WORK DETAILS
• The fire exit passageway was transformed from a standard green
corridor into a sort of indoor park—complete with plants and outdoor
furniture. This is A Walk in the Park—a digression from the traditional
workplace that encourages relaxation, and fun.

• The main open-plan workspace, or The WorkZone, consists of long,

modular desks and a cabinet wall on one side, complete with a
magnetic surface that can serve as a whiteboard.

• Splashes of colour are offered by the metal and laminate finishes of

the doors and storage spaces—a vibrant contrast to the otherwise
minimal space.

• Finally, The Pods Zone comprises cabins and conference rooms with
glass partitions. The partition of the large conference room folds back,
allowing it to integrate into the open-plan space during larger events.

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 THE CAFÉ LIVING
LIBRARY • The central heart
of the fuzzy
spaces is the large
double-height
library, the living
lounge and the
stepped
amphitheater
spaces which all
overlap spatially
as well as
programmatically
during large
events and talks
that the agency
holds both for in
house learning as
well as an open
exchange platform
to bring varied
external inputs.
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 THE WALK IN THE
Click icon to add picture
PARK • The other key
concept was
YOUR TITLE GOES HERE creating ‘walk in YOUR TITLE GOES HERE
the park’, in
which we used
the metre and
half wide
perimeter
passageway ,
into more than
just a green
corridor . We
made it into
became a ‘green
place’; like a
park, with
outdoor tables,
benches and
sitouts as well
plants, where
one could meet,
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 THE WORK ZONE Click icon to add picture
• The main open plan
double height workspace
YOUR TITLE GOES HERE consists large long YOUR TITLE GOES HERE
modular desks, allows
unto 70 staff members to
work, collaborate, and
meet. The coloured
doors with their bold
signage with a hovering
Superman milled pattern
on the flush wall cabinets
creates a vibrant and
distinct graphical identity
to an open and minimal
workspace zone..

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 • All the private conference spaces
THE PODS ZONE and cabins
Click icon are located
to add one side
picture
of the office that would allow
more quite zones for video
YOUR TITLE GOES HERE conferencing, client YOUR TITLE GOES HERE
presentations and director meet-
ups.
• Both the conference rooms are
housed with sleek black framed
glass partitions allowing for
visual connection, with the large
conference room able to
physically open out with its
sliding folding doors during large
events to be a part of the living/
amphitheatre space.
• The director rooms are seen
more as private pods within this
space, with a focus on calm and
plush interiors giving a sense of a
serene working oasis.

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 Click icon to add picture
• Overall the entire space is
made in an open plan and
YOUR TITLE GOES HERE modular way to ensure YOUR TITLE GOES HERE
flexibility of changing desks
or adding further seating if
AICL grows further.
• There is an equal emphasis
in overlapping of different
programs over all the spaces
including the outside ones,
so that events, meetings,
working and fun things can
be interspersed making the
entire working environment
as much ‘Fuzzy’ as it can be.

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 A FRESH PALETTE
• The “broad strokes” of the space, as Kulkarni and Tike call
them—the concrete floors, the white ceilings, and the
plywood furniture pieces—served as a binding theme across
all the spaces.

• “As a studio, we always like to highlight key parts of the

design through the right contrasts,” Kulkarni offers.

• The sharply defined play of volumes for the conference and

director pods, the colour gradient of the doors and the bold
graphics on the signage accentuate the space—all the more
because of the muted backdrop.

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 FURNITURE
• The furniture is another character in the space—sometimes muted, at other times
whimsical. “As architects who also design and make the furniture, we had the advantage
of being able to create customised pieces that flow with the overall look and feel of the
space,” Tike says.

• The team chose modular furniture forms to create functional, cost-efficient pieces of
furniture that were also innovative additions to the creative nature of the space.

• “Since we crafted almost all the furniture elements, we could incorporate a lot of
graphics, textures and design elements within the interiors which otherwise would have
either missed or would be an afterthought,” he adds. Lighting also played a crucial role in
creating warmth, while maintaining a sense of vibrancy within the interiors.

• “We divided the lighting design into three broad layers,” Kulkarni offers. First, the main
cross lights were fabricated with an orange forward slash—the AICL logo.

• Second, ambient lighting for the work desks was offered by long, linear lights. The third
layer comprises more specialised pieces like pendants or bird lighting.

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 GLASS
(MATERIAL)

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THANK YOU

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 REFERENCES

https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/mumbai-office-interiors-concept-creativity-life/
https://thearchitectsdiary.com/aicl-mumbai-workplace-interiors-sav-architecture-design/
https://officesnapshots.com/2020/01/06/aicl-communications-offices-mumbai/
https://studioamitavikrant.com/project/aicl-mumbai-workplace-interiors
http://cargocollective.com/casa/crec-coworking-barcelona-spain
https://crec.cc/en/

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