1. Offices
Relaxed, non-rigid and adaptable, these offices
represent an evolving workplace culture

2. Preceding pages The Mindtickle
office, designed by Studio Nishita
Kamdar and Studio P.mm in Pune is a
7,000 sqft office free of hierarchies.
These pages The office is defined by
an open layout with no demarcations
between the formal seating areas. It
is dotted with informal areas as the
central elements.
148 Home & Design Trends Vol 4 No 6 2016
Open creativity
This flexible office by Studio Nishita Kamdar and Studio
P.mm breaks away from traditional hierarchies and
embraces the uncluttered approach
The Mindtickle office, on the top floor of a
commercial building in Pune, is bestowed with
uninhibited views of the city. The 7,000 sqft office
was a bare shell when Nishita Kamdar of Studio
Nishita Kamdar and Palak Jhunjhunwala of Studio
P.mm took charge of it. The owner requested them
to keep it that way, albeit with a few necessary
design changes. Now housing 65 employees, the
office is free of barriers and hierarchies, but replete
with natural light and uncluttered spaces.
Mindtickle is a sales and customer success
readiness platform that helps companies improve
their overall sales productivity. Their work culture
encourages collaborations, informality and the
atypical ‘eavesdropping’ and ‘interference’. To
match the working style, Kamdar and Jhunjhunwala
designed one large office with departments
demarcated by informal seating areas in between.
“Since the client wanted flexibility, easy
maintenance, storage space and an open desk
system, we have segregated the areas informally
without any visible barriers. The informal spaces

4. Preceding pages and facing
page top The ‘Glass House’,
enveloped by a metal and glass frame
on all four sides, divides the office
into two zones. Brightly lit by natural
and artificial light, this serves as a
collaborative space for the staff.
Facing page bottom An outdoor
terrace area serves as the cafe,
with deconstructed picnic benches,
fragrant plants and a flexible awning.
Legend to plans 1 Reception
2 work areas 3 informal spaces
4 Glass House 5 outdoor cafe
Owner Mindtickle
Builder Chordia Group
Interior Designer Studio Nishita Kamdar, Studio P.mm
Contractor Mr. Siddhu Hiremath
Windows & Doors Chordia Group
Hardware Enox
Plumbing & Electrical Chorida Group
Paints Asian Paints
Flooring Aro Tiles
Veneers Greenlam
Workstations Featherlite
Furniture Featherlite
Story by Tina Thakrar
Photography by Enliven! Studio
153Home & Design Trends Vol 4 No 6 2016
are the central core elements, surrounded by
unassigned work desks. As our design principle, we
wanted to undo more than we do,” says Kamdar.
The transparent layering begins from the
reception area, which has a glass window that
offers a view right through to the exterior of the
building. Inside, the office has different types of
workspaces — the sitting desks, the standing
desks and the informal spaces. The designers
describe the style as “minimal-industrial”, which is
evident in the bare walls, exposed utilities, limited
artificial lighting, simple furniture and fresh
indoor plants.
Amidst the bustle of work desks is the Glass
House, which is strategically located near the
entrance. With a glass and metal frame on three
sides and the building’s glass façade on the fourth,
this room serves as a separation without actually
obstructing any of the outside flow. Right next to
this is another glass room that is bound by two
walls of white board and clear glass each, making it
an interactive yet informal space.
“The floor has black vitrified tiles, and the dark
ceiling bears a maze of red pipes and conduits for
lighting and air conditioning. We decided to use
black as the predominant colour within the office
due to the large amount of sunlight that comes in.
This nullifies excessive light and simultaneously
enlivens the teal pendant lights and orange carpets
that dot the office,” explains Jhunjhunwala.
At one end of the office is the cafe, which is a
semi-outdoor double-height terrace with a flexible
awning and community tables made from mango
wood and sleek metal. A row of fragrant plants
along the edge creates a green barrier and limits
the visibility of the café from the outside.
In the seven months that it took to build
this office, the design teams managed to
customise everything from the plant boxes to
the powder-coated lamps. “Sometimes, starting
from a blank slate can be a challenge and a boon.
We had to create smart divisions and allocations,
but had the flexibility to design it our way,”
concludes Kamdar.
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