Amidst the hustle bustle of the vernacular market of Jalandhar, near Nakodar Chowk is the reincarnated age old Lovely Sweets on a site area of approximately 5000 sq.ft. on the ground floor, boxed on three sides by the existing shops. Standing tall, with a new grandeur in the palimpsest of the Bazaar, is the bold and unique façade of its new multi Storeyed showroom accommodating offices, a sweet shop spiralling three floors and two floors of dedicated trousseau collections, with a total covered area of 19000 sq.ft.
Being recreated from a scratch, on the same site of the earlier dilapidated structure, amidst the hum drum of the bazaar the project had to take into consideration the challenges posed by such a site. Apart from the pressure of fast execution, there was this pressure of maintenance for the client. The clients never wanted the façade to be so traditional that their workforce of over hundred be spared to maintain it, but on the contrary, they never wanted anything so modern to lose the connect they had with the people.The façade thus chosen was a fine balance between the two.
A BROWN COLORED GLASS FAÇADE WITH AN INTRICATE METALLIC BORDER; SIMPLISTIC YET FUNCTIONAL, WAS A DESIGN IS TAKING INSPIRATION FROM THE GATEWAYS OF RAJASTHAN.
The choice of colors of the façade and the material detail show subtle confession in agreement to the over polluted bazaars of India, which make it cumbersome to maintain certain design features and colors. One notices a sharp change in themes from the wholesale floor to the regular shoppers and eventually to the elite sections in the shop. The planning gradually designates the silent areas to less crowded spaces and thus converting those into resting spaces which are carefully interspersed within the “box space” off the showroom. ‘
A visual connect with the market below is not forgotten and neither is the commercial collage.A brown colored glass façade with an intricate metallic border; simplistic yet functional, was a design is taking inspiration from the gateways of Rajasthan but the interiors are carefully balanced by the play of bold colors. Each level currently catering to a specific function and its décor dictated by the clientele its meant to serve. Reinterpreting the interiors vocabulary, as an ode to the Rajasthan family, this “runway” of sweets, has been designed with stylistic elements symbolic of the more traditional underpinning.
Ozenfant’s saying in the lyrical essay on clause states that “Vivid colors of strong values are unlivable with unless they are separated with white or gray. Reiterating the same, an avant garde approach is reflected throughout the project, echoing the nature of the clients. Be it the black walls, to highlight the bright celebratory domes, of the Trousseau floor or the stark white background of the Gifts Section.Both colors, white & black though considered “not so auspicious” for celebrations primarily in Indian weddings have been experimented with vivaciously to highlight the bright elements in the ceiling and the walls. With the architecture stimulating the core of experimentation, and echoing the same passion, the project, agreeably has taken the celebration to a new level.
