Dock 45 / Spacefiction studio

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Text description provided by the architects. The clients brief asked for a nightclub to be designed on of the most prime properties in the city of Hyderabad. It was to be a place which would draw people inside upon the first glance. The client wished to have a nautical theme inside out, from food to architecture. The idea of container architecture although suitable, posed an intriguing challenge is it possible to evolve an expression that presents the illusion of container architecture; equally exciting; without any of its flaws.

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 The possibility of using real containers was ruled out at an early stage. The reasons being: limitations of size, structural instability and local unavailability. The outer skin is fit between one foot thick I-beams, with corrugated metal sheet; not the container kind; but the kind that transport  trucks are made of, here, in India. These are found locally, compared to transporting container sheets from a port area. These run all along the periphery of the building, occasionally breaking to accommodate glass, which offers a wonderful view of the park opposite. The metal sheets are painted in dull hues of yellow, red, blue and green. Fabricated container doors and graffiti over these by local artists make them look like authentic containers.

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 Upon entering, the dual nature takes the user in by complete surprise; with the expression of solid containers on the outside dissolving gradually and one is welcomed by a large, open to sky volume. This houses a thirty foot long bar attached to a dance floor. The stage on the first floor, overlooks most of the spaces. A single flight, folded metal plate staircase is one of the two sets of staircases that take people to the first floor. The volumes of the projections on the outside are translated into intimate spaces of dining on the inside. The walls are visible through the large envelope of transparent glass facade enclosing the central court. The walls are thought out to be a Piet Mondrians painting, with the large fabric of white making most of the visible walls, broken intermittently by primary colors. These white walls are washed with recessed, automated lights that make the place change color gradually. Most of the large envelope of glass surrounding the central courtyard can slide open; with a protective railing behind; ensuring the users feel connected to the artist playing. This also gives the flexibility of opening up to the occasional cool weather, as opposed to sitting in air conditioning, behind fixed glass all the time.

 The elements that make up the interior are all real salvaged parts from broken ships. These include a number of windows, steam pipes, leverage hooks and chains, compasses and an engine order telegraph. There are a number of fabricated metal fins fit on small ventilator motors, behind metal meshes that mimic a propeller’s motion. All the walls that are of length twenty feet or more, are clad with fins made of waterproof medium density fiberboard, parametrically arrived to mimic sea waves. Nautical shapes are stamped on the cement flooring in strategic places. A turtle, mollusk, sea-horse; a fish fossil, break the monotony of the large expanse of the concrete floor.

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