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- January 20, 2021
- 10:20 am
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PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS
Project name: Think of it
Project Type: Hospitality, Cafe/Restaurant
Architecture Firm: Studio Lagom
Principal architect: Hardik Shah
Design Team: Krishna Kapadia, Kruti Sheta-Patel
Project location: Surat, Gujarat
Gross Built Area: 3500 sq.ft
Property Area: 5000 sq.ft
Landscaping: Hasnain Sabuwala
Artists: Kruti Sheta-Patel
Structure: Hitesh Rathi(Rathi consortium)
Metal Structure: Sai Shyam Engineering
Contractor: Kalpesh Patel
Plumbing: Burhanali Shaikh (Bhai Bhai Contractor)
Electrical: Sandeep Patel
Carpenter: Magraj Suthar
Branding and Signage: SatyadipVadnere (Satyarth) and Hemant Saho
Flooring: Jyoti Marble Art
Color: Rajpat Prajapati
Photo credits: Photographix | Sebastian + Ira
Drone shots: Dr. Pradeep Patel
In the midst of the hospitality arena of Surat, where restaurant designs are perceived with a very familiar and conventional image in the city; one restaurant stands apart, by breaking away from the typical four-walled norm. The out-of-the-box design approach creates quite a refreshing addition to the street-side cafe/restaurant scene of the city, for its sheer craftsmanship; abstracting and reinterpretation of salvaged materials. Known as ‘Think of it’, the cafe is anchored in a relatively quiet urban landscape alongside a sparsely visited sidelane.
The uniqueness of the restaurant comes alive from its organically curvaceous geometry and rusticity of its finishes. Its casual yet idyllic facade instils the most magnetic introduction to a street-facing al-fresco cafe experience set amidst sunkissed tropical landscapes. The prologue to the visitor journey is strengthened further by the playful silhouette of the facade fly-ash brick masonry wall, whispering at an undiscovered terrain that lies beyond. Walking past this veil through the entrance door, one realises that the streetfront dining experience is essentially a subtle reflection of the interior anatomy that delicately spills out, unable to remain contained within the confines of the interiors.
The restaurant emphasizes greatly on an open-to-sky garden court that occupies one quarter of the interior layout. Being the climax of the design, the court is artfully crowned by a trellis installation made of salvaged construction rods, levitating above it with a ripple-like appeal. The trellis shelters a garden dining ambience set amidst tropical greens; characterized by polished cast-in-situ cement benches, gravel floor beds and outdoor metal furniture. A bright terracotta-toned ferrocement screen amoebically sets the floor ablaze, containing the court from the semi-open sitting arrangements along the edge. Used to demarcate yet unite spaces at the same time, the screen enables both outdoor and indoor realms to have some connection via cut-outs into its elevation.
The peripheral semi-open spaces sheltered under GI (galvanised iron) corrugated sheets, sports a roughly hewn anatomy similar to that of the court. It serves as a perfect vantage point of the al fresco court.
The highlight of this intervention is its extensive use of reclaimed and salvaged materials that is used to create quite an artful tapestry. This mould-breaking approach also considerably brings the cost of construction down, creating a very innovative and light-weight concept that serves a bigger purpose.
The untamed intervention brings unique shapes, patterns and textures to the fore in the most natural sense, delivering a sensual characteristic to the cafe that is indeed indistinguishable from the circumambient natural landscapes. With ample daylight filtering into every nook and cranny of its composition, the space gets revitalized within differential light intensities through the course of the day…
…in-turn revitalizing patrons of the cafe in the most rejuvenating way.
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