Ajar

Preparation

The client initially wanted to outsource just the fit-out to us and wanted to source another Design Consultant for the project. There were several revisions to the finish and the Layout as the client decided to change the location of the office after submitting the initial Layout. Eventually, they decided to award us the Full Design & Fit-out contract and the final design was presented with complete Layout, Elevations, 3D Images (Perspectives), actual Material Finishes & fixtures.


Concept

The inspiration for the design concept was Ajar's logo and its name. The name “Ajar” means slightly open or another opening. Therefore, we incorporated unfinished & unplastered bare cement block walls, clean but unfinished & exposed Ceiling slab and MEP services, simple but defined furniture & workstation to be in line with the theme of their Kuwait Office.


Design

The client was looking for a simple, hip and modern design with clean lines, which are in line with their main office and Company’s brand image. The objective of the project was to provide a spacious working environment for the staff with ambient Lounge spaces conducive to inspire their workplace.

The Floor Layout was designed to keep the spatial relation between the Reception, Workstations, Meeting rooms and Pantry. It was created in such a way that it feels open, easily accessible yet retains privacy at certain points and junctures of the Office.

Open Ceiling was preferred for the Reception Area, workstation, and Pantry while the dropped ceiling was implemented for the enclosed offices, Meeting Rooms & entertainment hub. The spatial relation was retained in the ceiling layout as well, creating a more open wider space yet delineating with the use of corporate color on the ducts and services.

Special attention was taken in the positioning of lights, carefully positioned lighting created a bevy of lines that makes the eyes trail off in its direction to replicate a still motion and at the same time aligns its angled direction with the Ajar company Logo. The cement finish with grooves and metal studs accentuated the walls of the reception area, to create simple patterned shadows. The gape and flow of this cement finish towards the other parts of the space created a beautiful contrast and delineated the space.

Phone booth was proposed for intimate Video Conferencing, quick meetings or Marketing calls. These phonebooths provided an accent with the respite of neutral grey and white colors on the walls and the demarcation between the public and the workstation areas, while a refined metal terminated the workstation space from the public space on an angled direction on the floor synonymous in the general theme.

The shade of the floor carpet perfectly blended with the general theme, complementing the phone booth wall finish in the shade of a light grey with a tinge of blue and subtle white lines that assimilates with the company logo. The cement themed vinyl tiles also blended very well with the color scheme at the same time acting as an acoustic property along the hight traffic zone along the Reception and Pantry areas. We tried to provide a touch of play using hip colors for soft seating in public areas while using a grey tone in the remaining space. Wood finished tops were used on Meeting tables and workstations to give warmth to the overall interior


The Result

Our modest, crisp design and fit-out work finally resulted in a simple yet cool, modern and open workplace, that reflected the Client’s identity as a Brand. The client was quite pleased to have an office that simply matches their taste and inspires their people at work.