B Safal Corporate House Landscape

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When it comes to designing the landscape for a corporate house, the typology is often taken for granted. However, the B Safal Corporate House in Ahmedabad, India, challenged this notion by asking a simple question: what should a corporate landscape look like?

The project aimed to redefine workspace landscape by preparing a design idea for a 3000 sq mts of open space around the Monolithic Building of B Safal House. The building, designed by HCP, is an expression of simplicity, modernity, clarity, and honesty – values that are also reflected in the real estate works that B Safal does.

The landscape design aimed to create a prelude to the strong base and the Monoblock Office. The building sits on a plinth, creating a sense of heavy stranding on an immovable base, while the landscape design demanded a prelude to this strong base and the Monoblock Office. The challenge was to create a multi-functional space that provides a breakout room for employees, a display for an art collection – an open art gallery for occasional visitors, a pavilion for informal meetings, a small amphitheater or gathering space.

The process began with exploring the ideas for workspace landscapes. Was it supposed to be a “garden in an office” or “office in a garden”? The brief of the garden design was not just to create a prelude for the building but also to create a multi-functional space for the people who are working there. The garden became a break-out room for them to have a stroll on a pleasant summer evening or a sunny winter morning.

The architects imagined the garden to display the art collection, making it an open art gallery. They used art as a metaphor for the landscape vocabulary, where landscape becomes an art. The team looked at the works of Burle Marx – an artist and Landscape architect – as inspiration for their design. Burle Marx’s designs, paintings, and art works inspired them to look at landscape as art – a painting, on the barren ground as canvas, where the colors of nature become the palette, not just in two dimensions but as a volumetric translation of the idea.

The garden was designed to create an ecosystem where bees could make hives, birds could build nests, and fish and frogs could make their place in the lake. The garden will still evolve over the years, allowing trees to grow, shrubs to flower, earth to settle, and boulders to adjust. It will take its own time for this new ecosystem to develop, becoming a space where employees and visitors can take a break from their daily routine.

The B Safal Corporate House project redefines the typology for corporate landscapes. By reimagining it as a break-out garden for employees, a space for display for art collections, like an open art gallery for occasional visitors, the designers created a space that goes beyond the usual expectations of a corporate landscape.

This project is a testament to the importance of landscape architecture in corporate design. It shows how landscape architects can create functional spaces that not only add aesthetic value but also provide a space for employees to relax and recharge. The B Safal Corporate House project serves as a reminder that a well-designed landscape can enhance the overall experience of the built environment and contribute to the well-being of those who use it.

In conclusion, the B Safal Corporate House project puts forward a new way for corporate landscapes, by using the metaphor of landscape as art, the architects created a multi-functional space that not only serves as a prelude to the building but also creates an ecosystem where employees and visitors can take a break from their daily routine.

Project details

Design: Urbscapes
Project Location: Ahmedabad, India
Typology: Corporate landscape
Built: 2021-2022
Area: 2.975 m2
Client: B Safal
Design team: Nidhi Parikh, Narendra Mangwani, Sagar Prajapati, Himen Varsani, Hemish Kukadiya
Landscape contractor: Prakruti Landscapes
Irrigation and fountain consultant: J K Agri Corporation
Photo credits: © Inclined Studio

Urbscapes

Urbscapes

Urbscapes is a design studio based in Ahmedabad, founded by Narendra Mangwani and Nidhi Parikh in 2008. The studio works in the filed of master planning, landscape, architecture and research. The name of the studio is a combination of “urban” and “landscape”, as they believe that working in cities through the built environment is a modeling of the landscape. They think that design has to be appropriate to the context, climate and function, and should be in harmony with nature. They strive to strike a balance between the need of the projects and what they can offer.