By: Vyomesh Shah, Managing Director, Hubtown
Office architecture in Indian cities has improved significantly during the last decade, in terms of aesthetics, sustainability, scale and amenities that it provides to the occupiers. There is a growing demand from occupiers towards better amenities at the workplace.
Along with the exteriors, attention is being paid to creating interiors that cater to the current requirements while leaving room to incorporate future needs. Work areas are being planned thoughtfully, equipped with plug and play work-stations, boardrooms, small conference rooms and even the lounge and reception areas. Some specific offices are also providing leisure, recreational and rest areas for their employees and not just usual cafeterias and restaurants.
All Ackruti City commercial projects such as Ackruti Star, Ackruti Solaris and Ackruti Viva are built with an idea of offering good and modern office spaces to entrepreneurs and corporate who are looking to expand in high-end commercial spaces close to the buzzing corporate hubs of Andheri and Jogeshwari. They are located at short distances from the highway and airports to facilitate quick exit and entrance from and to the workplace for the business trips outside Mumbai. Built to accommodate the new- age executives these workspaces are equipped with modern and fully automated car parks, which together can accommodate at least 1500 cars. Other amenities include impressive office buildings with spacious atrium and high end security besides central air conditioning, eating and entertainment areas.
Car parking has become an important part of planning commercial centers as most employees are now car owners. Developers are planning stilt, podium and basement parking of multiple levels to accommodate at least 300 to 500 cars and some offer as many as 1500 to 2000 car parking space. The effort is to give entrepreneurs something which is sustainable for the next10 to 20 years. In fact, more features are being incorporated and the process is expected to continue.
All these call for futuristic thinking in designing, which is now playing a big role in building commercial spaces. In Mumbai Corporates are moving from South Mumbai to other areas and are looking for nothing less than 7000 to 10000 sq ft. to state the least. In some cases they have expressed the need for even bigger spaces, of up to 20,000 sq. ft. and there is need for them to be built quickly. So, timely approvals become critical in controlling the price factor.
