Skootr creates India’s first tropical forest theme office in Hyderabad

Skootr, a premium managed office space operator, has created India’s first tropical forest theme office space called Skootr Forest in HITEC City, Hyderabad. Spread across 1.5 lakh sq.ft. area with tropical ambience and natural elements bracing the office, Skootr aims to provide a calming and stress-free luxurious space to increase work quality and thriving productivity.

The indoor and outdoor office space has around 8,000 plants of 150 species. The facility includes private offices, a managed collaborative space with meeting rooms, and F&B services along with a terrace cafeteria among other offerings. The centre also has outdoor seating clusters and an art garden with multiple collaborative spaces revolving around nature ensuring a well-ventilated workspace. Some unconventional zones are also provided for mutual interaction and recreation.

Building Overview:

The building is reached through a beautiful canopy of trees on the Deloitte drive that winds uphill. Skootr Forest building tower C provided great scope for exterior landscaping, with car parking and congregation spaces on the Ground Floor. The 4 floors are connected through the large atrium that filters in direct sunlight through the PV glazing that forms the building’s facade.

Design Concept:

Inspired by Node Contemporary as a design concept that combines the principles of minimalism, functionality, and sustainability to create a modern and versatile living space. It draws inspiration from clean lines, geometric shapes, and a neutral color palette to achieve a sense of simplicity and sophistication. The concept emphasizes the efficient use of space and the integration of technology to enhance the overall living experience.

Skootr Forest has been designed as an experience center for how Skootr is changing the spatial dynamics of the corporate workspace. Using biomimicry as the basis of the node concept, the layouts are planned in a manner that they replicate the patterns of node points in connectivity or neural networks whether it is in tree mapping in forests or the synapses in the brain or in technology.

Our idea with this new office is to create collaborative spaces that are abound with natural elements as if to replicate the experience of walking into a forest. The clusters formed by natural elements and informal seating act as connectors between the circulatory paths and services.

The tropical contemporary ambience thus created, will cater to all the aesthetic and functional requirements of an exclusive office lifestyle. Concepts such as biophilia and minimal luxury are used throughout the office space reflecting the Company’s ethos and the wellbeing of its inhabitants.

Project Inspiration:

For this particular project, inspiration has been derived from the Japanese terraced rice fields. The undulating edges looks like a work of art as the sun ricochets from the set amidst the hills and valleys of the Ishikawa Prefecture. The contours of the land cut organically into the softscape form curvilinear pockets of water bodies and foliage. These natural patterns have been mimicked in the interior as well as the exterior landscape to contrast the straight lines and brute forms that comprise the existing mass of the building.

Biophilic elements:

Biophilia refers to the affinity or the connection that human beings have with nature and its elements. The concept has grown to become a core-belief of Skootr offices. An indoor biosphere of features such as air purifying plants, water features, fishes, natural stone, natural wood, calm sounds of the water fall etc, serve as therapeutic elements in an otherwise concrete setup. With node contemporary – we ensure to bring in nature at its best interspliced with the best in design technology and innovation.

VISUAL LAYERING:

The idea of creating visual layers in height, levels, typeform, material textures invites the viewer to experience a different vista everytime the space is experienced. Outdoor landscaping makes the use of accent planting to create this effect. Accent Planting can be achieved by creating a layered planting with varied colours, texture and levels.

SENSORY NODE POINTS:

There are many areas in the outdoor as well as the indoor land- scape that invite all the senses of the user. People can gather and sit in informal clusters and touch live grass and water. The fra- grance from the flowering plants, fishes in water and sounds of falling water all act as sensory touch points. The entire experience is subconsciously enriched by a matrix of subliminal stimulants.

LIGHTPLAY :

Light plays a major role in defining any form or the void thus created. The effect of shadow and traces of light create beautiful vistas as the sun path changes throughout the day. The attrium receive plenty of daylight that filter in through climbing vines. Whereas, on the outside, temporary structures created for shelter lend a hand in forming unique shapes onto the landscape.

The aim of this workspace gives you a sense of sitting at your desk and feeling as if you are working into nature at Skootr Forest office building located in the prime of Hyderabad.

FACTFILE

Website: Skootr.com

Photo Credits – In house Photography by Darshan Pandey

Designer- Shekhar Pawar, Landscape Designer at Skootr