Project Description

The Netherlands Business Support Office in Ahmadabad is part of the Dutch Government’s network of trade offices all over the world. HCPID was given a brief to design the interior office and public spaces, including the furniture, signage and graphics.

The design team’s main idea was ‘to zero in on the qualities of simplicity, clarity and austerity’ that in many ways define Dutch design. In addition, blues and greens were selected in recognition of the Netherlands’ cultural and historical ties with the sea, water management and agriculture. A restricted material palette of wood, metal and glass is employed, which is accented with vivid colors like orange (a national color), black, purple and ivory, and elements like the tulip. The spatial layout, together with a system of pivoted open-able glass partition walls, is used to establish a visual and special links between semi-enclosed public and administrative areas.

The resulting designed space has a contemporary and sober feel that is much appreciated by the Dutch, as is the carefully designed flexibility of space usage.