An ornate multilayered façade for the HQ of an Indian ethnic menswear brand – City Vibes in Jaipur, India that stands five stories tall and is studded with concentric rings and arches that light up, providing a glow to the façade. Designed by newness, an architecture studio from Jaipur, the façade adorns the entrance side of the building and is comprised of structural glass glazing, metal fins and large concentric rings and arches of metal composed artfully to make the façade distinct from the heritage facades in context of Jaipur, the cultural and economic capital of the royal state of Rajasthan in India.
During our first meeting with the client at the site, they mentioned that they wanted to make a statement and create a captivating facade that awed its viewers. Therefore, it became clear to us that we had to break away from the stereotype of predominant heritage architecture of Rajasthan and make the store stand out.
Layering the west-facing building’s entrance with white aluminum fins to emulate a white blank canvas and then composing two of the most elemental shapes - circles and arches made of aluminum sheets in an abstract arrangement enabled us to kill two birds with one stone: creating an aesthetically pleasing facade and partially shading the building from the glaring sunlight.
Since the building was already made, we had to keep the facade lightweight. Aluminum fins are powder-coated sections of aluminum placed and cut along the curvilinear ornaments of concentric rings and arches which are made of aluminum sheets welded together using the arc-welding technique that are subsequently finished in metallic color.
We understood that the busiest sales hours were between 5:00 pm and 9:00 pm when the sun starts to set and slowly goes below the horizon until its dark. Highlighting this retail facade was imperative during those hours, hence we placed flexible profile LED’s along the circular and arched ornaments to make them glow in warm white color.
The City Vibes HQ facade engages people passing by and the customers that visit the store to pick outfits for their celebrations. We hope to give viewers a pleasant visual experience as they look at this facade.