Reliance International is an Indian multi-national conglomerate that provides energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media and textiles. Reliance approached SAY Studio for the re-location of their International Business Trading Center on Level 33 and half of Level 34 in ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). The 33rd floor is the main functional trading center housing trader’s desks and meeting rooms. While the 34th floor houses a few visiting director’s offices, visitor management area, conference rooms.
"Reliance’s new offices represented a unique opportunity to represent the company’s brand, value, ambition and culture within a space." says Laila Al-Yousuf, Design Director “The functional and planning considerations are buttressed by elements that draw from spirituality, materiality, craftmanship, and hospitality to create a unique space of a unique firm.”
What’s New?
We Care The spirit of care and empathy is an integral part of Reliance’s new workplace. Their offices remain the key destination to interact, cross-collaborate, innovate and build relationships. We supported this by planning the offices, where possible, to combine areas for concentration with more collaborative & social spaces to boost productivity, efficiency and creativity.
What is Good for India is Good for Reliance The belief that "What is Good for India is Good for Reliance" has shaped Reliance's ambitions and actions since its inception. As part of our design process, we dove into the culture, so that we could bring it into the design. The aesthetics of Indian spirituality, materiality, craftmanship, and hospitality are present throughout the design, particularly in the puja space.
One Step at a Time To facilitate connectivity between Levels 33 & 34, we introduced a void and feature staircase. The private, internal stair between the two floors bridges the space and provides vertical circulation, connection, collaboration, and access to meeting rooms. Visitors and staff are meant to feel a sense of timeless elegance and beautifully crafted materiality when they are climbing the stairs and when they encounter the feature, pendant chandelier.
Bringing in Culture & Energy Beyond aesthetics, the design embodies holistic principles and is planned following the vastu guidelines, ensuring harmony, and positive energy flow in the workspace. The pantry space follows cultural cues with a hammered ceiling that evokes the vastu shastra element of water, flooring that is reminiscent of traditional Indian patterns, and the lighting fixtures reflect the scalloped arches of Indo-Islamic architecture. These touches ground the space in the company’s cultural roots.
Showcasing Growth & Commitment In an open office environment with no solid walls to interrupt the flow of the space, finding ways to fragment the floor space is essential in creating differentiated neighborhoods. Acoustic ceiling panels and partitions provide privacy while their form follows the client’s brandmarks, collaboration zones provide visual and functionally separate space within the open plan. Apart from the purely functional aspect of the screens, having these different textures helped break the monotony of a large space without creating any visual interruptions. It enabled us to offer an added degree of privacy while still retaining the open feel of the office.
Functional Differentiation Apart from the look and feel, the way a space functions can also help it stand out from an adjacent nook. The heritage corridor is a functionally distinct area with zones within that serve different needs. It is flanked by collaboration areas with informal seating, comfy cushions and poufs that act as third spaces with a modern, café-like feel. Within the corridor small meeting/focus rooms for private conversations and intimate discussions. On the other side of the corridor, there are phone booths that provide spaces for individual, focused work. Finally, adding character to the space is a bespoke moss wall that also contains storage space.
Reliance’s new offices in ICD Brookfield Place, DIFC are an exciting next step for one of the region’s leading multi-national conglomerates. The office represents the firm’s philosophy, a bright and inviting space that embodies Reliance’s ambitions and cultural heritage. Their new space is a working environment that becomes an exceptional, destination workplace that allows staff to unite and connect.
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