Interview of Parish Kapse, Founder & Strategist, Team One Architects

1.Highlight the new age design aspect of modern offices The design aspect of office has seen a lot of changes over a period of time. In India, large format offices of 1-2 lakh square feet are being designed while, in  Europe offices generally range from 25,000 to 30,000 square feet. Like the western counterparts, in India, planning homogenous offices too has become a trend  with open layouts, highly collated spaces and collaborative work areas. The new office design requires creating cohesive spaces that help in keeping the communication free and easy.

2. What are the technologies and sustainable design used in office design?

Technology wise be it the lighting, air-conditioning, acoustics, security or fire safety, the systems have undergone tremendous up gradation. For air-conditioning, instead of conventional chilled water systems, we are now using air-cooled VRF systems or radiant cooling. The previously used hazardous refrigerants have been replaced with eco-friendly R407 refrigerant. Lighting has also become advanced in terms of energy-efficient lighting products, controls and lighting sensors. Office complexes are now using high definition security cameras instead of the analogue CCTVs. They have wide angles to capture more area and are more sophisticated in capturing and storing the data.  For access controls we have now gone to the extent of iris scans and face recognition readers. What are the aspects to keep in mind while making eco-friendly buildings? Right from the basic location and building planning as per the sun path, every aspect is kept in mind for making a building eco-friendly. Keeping the power consumption  and waste water discharge to the minimum have become major considerations. However, there is still a lack of awareness in terms of eco-friendly products and services available. And even if clients know about such systems and install it, they still feel maintenance is a challenge. A lot needs to be done to educate the client and create awareness among the end-users.