LONDON TAXI
KHAR

Role:
Project
Architect

TEAM:
Prasad Patel
Ar. Abhishek Bakshi

TYPE:
Interior design

The brief was simple, Rejuvenate the bar under new management.

The challenge
The project has a tight timeline as well, the new management wanted the entire site completed in 45 days.
They had already invested in the space earlier and didn’t have the budget for a complete overhaul.

A new perspective

Having met the client, I found that there was a new way of looking at this project, what if our constraints became our strengths. Sustainability comes in different forms and sizes. Constructions sites, especially when it comes to interior projects during the demolition phase, have a huge carbon impact as most of the debris lands up in landfills.
Taking these points into account, this project could be one that actually had a minimum amount of debris going into the landfills.

The plan of action

We took various measures to understand what can be retained and what can be reused or needed to be refurbished.Creating the list also helped me understand the new construction from the old (retained pieces). An extensive list of furniture, appliances, and utility items were made before we began the design process.When we knew what we were retaining, we started designing the space keeping them in mind.The furniture pieces were refurbished with new padding and fabric on top, we retained the existing framework and reused the wood to create the long benches.The MS tables were retained and powder coated to bring them back to life. The table top was changed by adding a layer of laminate on the top to resonate with the London taxi brand.

The main bar framework was retained and the display unit was added to help accentuate the entire space. From the moment you would walk in, you’d see the bar in all its glory.

The false ceiling was in a very bad state as joints were exposed. But since bison (cement sheets) were used in the previous constructions, we thought about adding an element that covers and highlights the joints to cover them and paint them black to give a seamless finish.The lights were added to resemble the oscillation of a wave and with the reflective services all around it gives a sense of the space being larger than it is already. Frames were used to cover the walls with art work created by the in-house graphic team. The breaks between the pictures and the mirror helped create the sense of infinity in the small space.

My learning

1. It was super fun working on this project as it had its own set of challenges.
2. I learnt a lot and realised that if you truly push yourself, then you can achieve your goals you’ve set for yourself.
3. The team that I worked with were very accommodating as a lot of the decisions were taken on site as we didn’t have the time to create a complete drawing set.
4. This also pushed my skills of understanding things and preempting any issues that might develop on the site.
All images in the project are the property of Drink water design.
To see more of their work click here : Drink water design