The Quest for an Office

With most of the intangible aspects taken care of, i.e. the company’s name, tagline and website, and with a lot of great ideas in mind, it was time to look for a workshop where we could put those ideas to work.  We were looking for a decent-sized space in a good location.  After a lot of discussion, we narrowed down on three locations within Chennai: Royapettah, Egmore and Periamet.  Next, we had to zoom in from three to one.  There was another round of discussion and polls and we finally decided on Egmore.

What tilted the balance in Egmore’s favor was its central location, proximity to shopping malls (Spencer Plaza, Alsa Mall, and Fountain Plaza) and other major business houses in the area.  We found a terrace apartment on Marshalls Road across Rajarathnam Stadium, which was located on a private road and had a convenient parking facility.  So that was it!  Without wasting any time, we signed up for it.

But, it was essentially a residential terrace apartment and it was up to us to transform it into a functional office.  We had multiple brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas for designing the studio office.  Initially, the idea was to simply paint the place and put in some functional furniture and equipment because anything beyond that seemed cost-prohibitive.  But, when we deliberated over it, we realized that unless the place was light, fun and comfortable, people won’t be able to put their creative minds to work.

Our Chief Strategy Officer, Syed R, played a key role in providing great ideas in terms of the layout and patterns of the furniture and fittings.  Syed is experienced in working on similar interior design projects and his inputs were extremely valuable.  With these ideas in mind, we approached Sheetal Srinivas, a professional architect to help us design our studio office.  Sheetal came up with great ideas and provided us with a comprehensive office design plan.  In addition, Sheetal also assisted us in procuring the right materials and fittings.

So, our studio office had three “phases” – (1) project room, (2) reception and (3) outdoor.  The entire setup took us almost four months.  We started with the floor work, and followed it with the whitewashing of the walls for which we used a basic off-white color.  The next stage was incorporating a false ceiling with built-in lights.  We also used wooden panels in the ceiling and walls to give a rustic touch.  Then, we needed to customize it making it truly a “D-360” zone.  So, amidst the wooden panel, we added out signage within a glass window.

The D-360 team used to touch base regularly during the setup, which enables us to identify bottlenecks and issues on a timely basis and resolve them ASAP.  For the entrance to the terrace, we decided to have a glass door with our tagline embossed on it.  This was done after much deliberation since we were a little concerned with safety issues given that it was, after all, a glass door.  But since we used a Teflon-coated glass door, we were reassured that it was safe.  That completed the basic setup of the studio office.

Next, we furnished the space with tables, chairs, sofas and bean bags, and also incorporated the air conditioners, computers, wall frames and other accessories.  That was it!  After four months of tireless efforts, we had our studio office.