Hafele’s New Experience Center In Hyderabad Dons Aludecor Wabi Sabi To Create A Vision of an Unrivaled Environment
This showroom was specially made for the Indian subsidiary of the German multinational company Hafele. This outlet will serve more as a company-owned design Centre. The wide range of Hafele products and appliances are displayed here to give the customers a unique involvement of seeing, touching, and experiencing the complete offering from the brand before they finalize the purchase.
The client brief was to create a matchless, state of the art Experience Center, which will provide the visitor with a distinctive customer experience. There was no specific preference from the client’s side for the use of any materials. All the creative decisions are taken by us as designers for the project.
While planning about the perfect interior cladding material, I thought of using ACP as I was looking for a durable material. I have used ACP before in my other projects and have experienced the fact that it’s a reasonably strong and long-lasting item for retail and residential consumption. Ease of use as the material has been around for a while now and hence it’s a tried and tested material for interior cladding. One of its two finest uniqueness was its bendability aspect and its ability to curve smoothly, to avoid edges.
Hence it was easy to find the right contractors to execute my vision and make it a reality.
While deciding on the ACP shade and texture for this project, I recalled seeing the Wabi Sabi series of Aludecor. The first thing that came to my mind seeing Wabi Sabi range was that this didn’t look like conventional ACP panels at all. The mix of natural finishes of copper patina, greyish fossil, and rustic textures, with a metallic accent, was unrivaled and exciting.
The finishes of these panels were in complete harmony with the overall look and feel of the space that we had in mind. These finishes complemented the other material perfectly and that was the primary reason for us to finalize these panels.
As for the design philosophy of the showroom, there was no precise theme. The entire place just needed a distinctive feel and look. The main component was highlighting the product on display and weaving the design around the central idea of attracting eyeballs to the displayed range.
Each zone of the showroom had to highlight a specific range of products and these products were to create layering across the space. The display area and background also had to enhance the products. At a macro level, the overall element such as the floorings, walls, etc everything had to have a uniqueness and yet be in sync. Each layer has to complement each other to make a synergetic look and feel for the space.
To be honest, I am completely content with my choice of using Wabi Sabi as the cladding material as the result is totally in sync with my vision.
Shades used – MA-10 Antiq Slate & CS-07 Rugged Red (4mm) Designer Firm – KCL Design & Architecture, Mumbai Principal Architect – Ketan Chavan The project area of ACP sheet usage – 112 sqm
Ar. Ketan Chavan
Principal Architect of KCL Design & Architecture, Mumbai. Alumni of Sir J.J. School of Architecture, his expertise and experience in the field of design goes back over 15 years during which he has executed an array of remarkable retail and commercials interiors across the country.
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