The Piramal Group, a globally diversified business conglomerate, wanted to create a cohesive office space in Mumbai that would bring together five existing offices under one roof.

The challenge was to design a space that could accommodate people from seven departments with diverse cultural backgrounds while reflecting the company's core values of knowledge, action, care, and impact. As a rapidly growing global powerhouse, Piramal Group sought to switch to a semi-open area with more collaboration zones, while maintaining their hierarchical structure.

Before developing the layout, Space Matrix conducted strategy workshops with different business units and employees to understand their specific requirements and function as individual departments and as part of the Piramal Group. The data-driven insights helped gain employee buy-in for transitioning to a semi-open space with multiple collaboration zones.

The unique design concept emerged out of two-fold inspirations: self-sufficient Indian neighbourhoods and biophilia. We designed self-sustainable neighbourhoods'' within the office, similar to traditional Indian homes with a central courtyard for social gatherings. Each neighbourhood represented the company's guiding principles of knowledge, care, action, and impact. The courtyards provided flexible and comfortable seating options, while central core walls showcased branding and graffiti depicting Piramal values nudging people to come together as one organisation, one culture.

The design utilised visual segregation with different colours to differentiate between neighbourhoods and business departments without using physical barriers, simultaneously creating visual transparency while maintaining segregation of spaces. Collaboration spaces were strategically planned against the glazing to maximise natural light and promote employee well-being. The design also ensured each neighbourhood was self-sufficient, with accessible collaboration spaces, meeting rooms, storage, and repro units.

To accommodate future expansion, we used a modular concept of standardised workstations, allowing for flexibility in accommodating more or fewer people without major structural changes. The layout achieved a 90:10 open office to closed office ratio, while still maintaining the client's hierarchical structure.

The final output was a contemporary workspace covering 146,000 square feet, integrating two distinct spaces with different feels. The office featured a luxury hospitality ambience in the lobby and a welcoming home-like atmosphere in the office space. Each work zone represented a self-sustaining Indian neighbourhood, featuring collaboration spaces, meeting rooms, and storage units.

The design incorporated natural elements, plants, and biophilic design principles to promote employee well-being, creativity, and productivity. The open and airy layout allowed employees to work, socialise, and collaborate in a relaxed environment, enhancing their overall experience in the workplace.

The Piramal Group's new office successfully reflected its core values, facilitated collaboration, and embraced diversity while positioning the brand as a global player. while providing flexibility for future growth and expansion.