Thinking out-of-the-box!

Compiled by Marina Correa

Renders & Drawings: Courtesy rat[LAB]INTERIORS

Read Time: 2 mins

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A stone retail flagship housed within an office-cum-factory premise in Noida provides 360⁰ experience of the merchandise right from the time a customer steps into the store…

Breaking away from conventional design and methodology, and in sync with the client, Odyssey Stone’s mission to “fully realize the expressive potential of stone”, rat[LAB] INTERIORS is presently culling out this 1,020 sq. ft. experience centre, where axiomatically-clad stone surfaces envelop the interiors – right from charcoal grey epoxy flooring to red jasper and black granite desks; and CNC-cut marble stone walls to triangulated MDF panel ceiling, re-defining the concept of a retail space.

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“We eschewed traditional drawings right from the construction stage, and instead embraced a point co-ordinate system as all faces were at different angles, making it impossible to get their dimensions otherwise,” explains founding partner Sushant Verma of rat[LAB] about their choice of technique.

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As if walking into a compact sci-fi film set, recursive subdivision and CNC milling techniques done on 3-D pure white marble surfaces allow light to filter in a la light sabers as seen in Star Wars.

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The research, architectural and technology firm approached the project by mathematically sub-dividing the four surfaces (three walls and ceiling) into triangles of varied sizes and angles using computational methods, allowing for optimization of material and construction time. Next, CNC milling done on large slabs of marble generating 3-D surfaces, are clad onto a timber framework at different angles, where each marble stone, as an individual triangle, is further subdivided to form smaller fractals leading to ridges and valleys. The variations of the prismatic heights allow light to pass through the thickness of stone effecting a glow under the back-lighting.

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In terms of colour palette: the coolness of the pristine white walls and ceiling is juxtaposed against the darkness of jet black flooring and further enhanced by the boldness of red and streaks of metallic silver and gold; making one experience the commodity (stone) in an entirely new light and context.

The project is scheduled for completion in March 2017.

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Fact File:

Client: Odyssey Stone, Noida, India

Area: 1020 Sqft 

Design Firm: rat[LAB]INTERIORS

Design & Computation: Sushant Verma, Anchal Chaudhary

Project Team: Apoorva Soni, Sadhika Baveja

Stone CNC milling: Odyssey Stone