Designing for a commercial building is tricky, as the client will always look for ways to save and increase profit. This came as a challenge to us as designers to approach this project in a different way.

The building will be divided into 4 uses: a crossfit gym on the ground floor, a restaurant on the second floor overlooking the gym, office spaces on the third & fourth floor and lastly, a bar on the roof deck. 

The whole design of the building is governed by its structural grid, simple and straightforward. We could’ve stopped there and just enveloped the whole building with glass, but this gave us an opportunity to play with protrusions and voids. And by doing so, we were able to create a very dynamic facade that gave way for balconies enclosed with expanded metal mesh and openings  for landscape, and cross ventilation as well. It is very reminiscent of high tech architecture which exposes the structural elements as a part of its facade. 

What was supposed to be a very simple box, turned out to be a dynamic, playful and lively building.