We are finally… FINALLY here with the Citadel office reveal. Do you guys remember when we started the Citadel Office project at the end of last year? You have either forgot all about it or probably thought we abandoned it. I’m sure you did… no we didn’t… and it’s finally time to reveal this beautiful black and white office!

But first, let me tell you what happened. We finished the project pretty quickly… in less than 2 months. The office looked great, was totally functional and the client decided to move in immediately. I don’t blame them. Their rental meter had started and they really, really needed the space. And then they got really really busy with work. Once they could use the office comfortably, they were in no hurry to ‘finish’ the office properly. The tables and chairs are essential, the frames, not necessarily. Which meant I couldn’t post the reveal here for all of you!

BUT… that is now a thing of the past. We’ve managed to ‘finish’ the office.. and here it finally is!

A Black And White Office Reveal:

As a reminder, let’s start with the plan. For those of you missed the planning post, it’s here. So I won’t get into the planning again. Let’s get straight to how it turned out!

A Rental Office:

The most important thing we had to keep in mind while designing the office was that this is a rental space. Since it was absolutely empty, it had to be furnished. But the client’s brief was very clear. They needed functional work space. If we could make it ‘look good’ without increasing the budget, that would be great. They don’t know how long they’re going to occupy this space. So there’s no way they’re spending anything extra on it. I cannot refute the logic of that.  As you read along, I’ll show you how we designed keeping the budget in mind.

A View From The Entrance:

As you can see in the plan, as soon as you enter you first see the reception table, behind which is a row of workstations. We made the reception table as an extension of one of the workstations since they don’t have a dedicated receptionist. This also works well as a visual shield, blocking the workstations behind it from view.

The Workstations:

Just behind the reception is a row of 3 workstations. The client had leftover cut sheets of compact laminate from one of their completed sites. We decided to use these to make the workstation tops.

The cabinets in between are of plywood, which we finished with a matching laminate. The workstation top and the cabinets below are easily separable. This means, that should Citadel decide to move office, they can take each cabinet and the workstation top separately, and realign and reuse them as per their new office space.

We didn’t select the colour of the compact laminate. The client already had this lovely French walnut, and we built our colour scheme around it. We decided to go with white for the overhead storage. It’s a small office. The white helps to keep it looking spacious.

The walnut and white was great, but we needed some striking design element. We had to upholster the soft boards and chairs anyways. Why not make them the design element? We chose a bold black and white fabric for them. It goes really well with the walnut, and it is striking without being loud.

The Back Wall:

We have another row of 3 workstations at the far end of the office. This is almost exactly like the 3 at the entrance.

Just behind this is a storage cabinet which also houses the common printers and wifi. Through the glass, you can see V’s cabin.

V’s Cabin:

Since V’s cabin also works as the conference room, we made it large, with a large table.

We jazzed it up with that lovely wallpaper, adding another striking pattern to this black and white office.

Along with the pattern on the chair it gives a bold sense of design to this black and white office.

As you can see in the plan, the cabin has sliding doors which V can keep open when he wants to feel a part of the office.

And slide shut when he’s in a meeting and needs privacy. I would have preferred the doors also to have glass on the upper half, but V didn’t like the idea of a completely open office. He wanted an in-between. Neither claustrophobic, nor public.

So this cabin works perfectly for him. The glass partitions make it look big and he can keep an eye on what’s going on while the wooden doors keep part of it covered at all times to give a sense of privacy.

Finally, we added some pendants with warm yellow lights to the cabin. Though the regular white light ceiling fittings are present above the cabin too, the pendants give a certain richness to the cabin with the additional warm light.

The Pantry:

Between V’s cabin and the entrance, we had a little niche in which to fit in the pantry. It perfectly fits in the coffee machine, refrigerator and cabinets for some basic crockery.

I have spent many a morning in design discussions, enjoying the warm hospitality and hot coffee at Citadel.

The Floor:

The existing floor of the office is in kota stone. You can see it in the ‘before’ pics in the previous posts. We could have polished it to a shine and it would have been fine. But we wanted a richer and warmer look. Since we didn’t want to go over the top, we went with vinyl flooring. We matched it as closely as possible to the compact laminate used and the result is this warm, wooden finish which goes perfectly with the rest of the interiors.

Display Wall:

This was the last bit of design left… and the main reason why this post is so delayed! The large blank back wall where we were supposed to display Citadel’s products and work. The display wall is the partition between the office and the store room. We used Shera board to make this since the client deals in Shera. It is inexpensive and quick to install. We chose a board with a self pattern so it looks great. And Citadel gets to display their products starting with the wall itself!

 We designed part of the wall to actually display different samples of their products.

And a part to display photographs of larger products and completed works.

The company logo completes this wall. It is the first thing you see when you enter the office and makes an impact immediately.

The door below the logo leads to the store room, seen on the extreme left in the plan.

We have lined both sides of the walls inside with slotted angle racks. These are used to store various materials, machines etc.

Drawings & Completed Site:

Here are some pics of the drawings we made and the completed office as it now is.

Entrance Wall:

Pantry:

Display Wall:

That is our black and white office reveal for you. We are quite happy with the end result and the fact that we managed it within our budget. One of my favourite photographs though, has less to do with the office and more to do with its people.

This was the day they did the pooja before entering the office for the first time. Happy, smiling clients. Could I ask for more?

Here’s the black and white office reveal in video form for a bit of fun!

Until next time,