In the dense urban fabric of India’s Mumbai, Studio Symbiosis upgraded the ID Origins Headquarters into a new visual marker of the city, using organic strokes to merge old and new into one revitalized project. The HQ has been under construction since October 2019 and is a historic landmark for the company, as it was where the owners first initiated their business in the 1980s. The 18,750 sqm project was awarded the WA World Architecture Community Awards for its unique design approach.
Originally, the building consisted of six commercial floors, but with the new rehabilitation, twelve additional floors were added on top, connected with a load-transferring girder. Naturally, the new floors needed additional support, so the designers added columns from the ground floor upwards and manipulated their design to conceal the project’s dichotomy, which led to the building’s unique facade grid. The geometric elements on the facade were created with a V profile to ensure an array of material options. After several tests, the team selected Aluminum Composite Panels for their durability, fire rating, and lightweight.
Since the building will be used for commercial and residential purposes, there was a need to reduce the glare while providing optimum natural lighting in the commercial areas. To do so, the design team perforated the screens on the facade’s columns and faded them out as they reached the residential floors, giving the residents a more uninterrupted view.
The same design language was further explored in the project’s interior, mimicking the facade’s motif in the interior décor. The rehabilitation extended beyond the architecture, rerouting the entrances and exits and creating an urban lobby, which became a part of the Mumbai urban layout. See below the first images of the structure under construction.
