Location : Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Site area : 2200 sqft

Built area : 5770 sqft

Project status : On-going

Project Team : Pradeep Arumugam, Deepan Ashok, Santhosh Kumar,Jalagandeshwar

Project Type : Office Space

Nordia

Location and client

Nordia is an office building for an IT company located in a quiet residential area of GV residency. The name is a combination of the company's two home countries, Norway and India. The design approach is an attempt to investigate new structural possibilities in the field of architecture.

Main concept

The entire structure is supported by thick bracket columns protruding outwards from the basement and deviating from the monotonous, linearly stacked up volumes. These coloumns also  transform into a vertical garden element on the sides. The entire structure seems to float in the air, thanks to the column free basement.

Materiality and Facade

The whole façade is covered with glass. Two different types of glasses with varying degrees of opacity are used. This regulates the amount of natural light that enters the interiors and creates an intriguing play with light. Both types of glass are alternately used across the facade, resulting in interesting spatial experiences. The use of glass also makes the structure feel light and airy.

Zoning

The MD's office and conference rooms flank both short sides of the volume. The remainder of the space is dominated by workstations that can accommodate up to 20 people.

Interiors

The interior design is inspired by one of the company’s home countries, Norway. The office space is designed to be well lit throughout the day and night, similar to how Norway sees the sun 24 hours a day. While daylighting is sufficient during the day, artificial lighting design for the night has been meticulously planned.

The colour palette has been subtly extracted from the northern lights of Norway. Bright oranges and greens subtly pop out from the soothing white tone of the interiors, to add a whimsical character to the otherwise calm interiors.

Two types of lights have been used to emphasise horizontality and verticality. While one type of fixture is horizontally linear, the other is cylindrical and vertically linear.

Similar to the sunset backwoods of Norway, where light filters through tree trunks, vertical aluminium louvres are used in the façade in a certain pattern, also creating interesting spatial experiences with light and shadow.

Partitions that are abstracted from the alternating use of glass types in the façade have been used for demarcating spaces. Corridor spaces have been highlighted with the use of a black floor and dark ceiling, differentiating it from the work spaces.