To witness an evening that brought together over 400-plus experts and professionals from the field of architecture, design, project and facility management on one single platform from across the country – was sight to behold. The Commercial Design Awards 2022, in its very first avatar, hosted at the open lawns of Sofitel BKC on the 15th of December, 2022, was not just an event, but a culmination of the hard work and purpose-driven efforts put in by the industry.
With an immense number of entries across the country, The ‘Workplace Designer of the Year’ category was awarded to SWBI Architects. The award was presented to Sanjay Wadhwa, Principal Architect, SWBI Architects by Manoj Tomar and Kumar Bhakthavatchalu, respectively.
Project submitted: The Bank of New York’s Mellon Corporation
The Bank of New York’s Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY Mellon, is an American multinational Investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City.
This is a consolidation project where by various business functions, Technology, operations and perishing have been co-located in s single campus in Chennai. To save real estate space as well as gain in better collaboration and synergy.
Project brief:
The Brief was to create an exciting Workplace Design, which while adopting the best Industry Practices represents the BNYM brand enmeshed with the local region. Employee experience was to be the center piece of all decisions. Hence the Typical Work floor was laid out as a sequence of spaces with Work-café at the entrance followed by streets, plazas and to 4 neighborhoods of about 150 people each complete with their own Work, meeting, collaboration & support spaces. Flexible, multi function spaces / rooms in the form of large conference rooms have been located at the cross – roads and nodes. Flexibility & Fungibility and Robust Resilience was the cornerstone of planning spaces which work hard and lend itself to various use cases.
- Planning and strategy: Space Planning to create Experiential Office both for Employees & Visitors alike while adopting the Best Design Practices in Workplace.
- Sustainability and wellness: Due to various measures including but not limited to Energy conservation, Indoor Air quality, Daylight harvesting etc., this Project achieved the highest level of certifications here LEED Platinum and WELL Gold.
- Connect with community and brand: The new highly connected & inclusive Workplace will reflect and convey the values & vision of this very well-respected Bank.
- Design for all = Good design: Accessibility, Diversity & Inclusivity has been the center stage in all planning aspects. Interiors cater to all physical & psychological needs of differently abled individuals
- Design for innovation: We have adapted Technology to establish CONNECT AT WORK-PLACE so that the employees can truly exercise their freedom at work.
Spatial Planning (Vertical Campus)
This is a Vertical Campus development spread over 10 Floors with over 5000 plus Users who inhabit this campus of over half a million SF. 3 Grids of Double height entrance was utilized by integrating GF & FF through Elements like tiered seating , larger than life LED display, protruding bay windows and balconies infuse the urban elements of a city into a place that has an open, transparent and engaging spirit. It also explores the vertical plane of the atrium that spans three grids and 2 floors. The above elements were an ode to the famous Times Square of NYC, where the Bank of New York Mellon is headquartered. Spatial Planning 1. Vertical Campus An attempt has been made to emulate the feeling of a public plaza abuzz with activity, thereby infusing the front office experience as a positive energetic one sets you for the day.
Spatial Planning (Post Covid)
Covid desired an increased choice to the ways we work. Employees looked for a safe
environment which led to “ hybrid workspace model ” 8th and 9th floors have been designed based on hybrid workspace model that corresponds to the new workplace design trends gaining popularity in the post pandemic era. Though with us moving back and adjusting to the new normal, that moment helped us co-creating and understand spaces which are more user centric and user friendly.
Spatial Planning (Flexible & Fungible Spaces)
Every Floor while having a similar farmeowork of grid iron planning, changes its flavor at the Tow Square wherein the Meet & Greet Spaces of Work Café & Conference Centre Has been treated in a manner which encouarges collab and focused work and the Rooms work hard to give many Use Cases – 2 large conference rooms plus a social space , one large conf space and laos, a Team Town Hall scenario which comines all 3 spaces and convert itself into a large gathering space of over 300 people compete with ist own AV & acoustics solutioning.