ARRIS AT WORK

Hyper customisation – where design bears the DNA of the client’s business.
2016. Interior & Landscape Design, Lab Design, Engineering Design and Project Management. 4 floors delivered in 4 months.

Client:ARRIS

Industry: Global R&D and Operations

Location: Ulsoor, Bengaluru

Area: 1,60,000 sq ft, 4 floors

Status: Completed

The Brief: This project was a competition pitch that ADEelite won and executed.

Our Response:

How can we turn an R&D centre into a fun place to work? How can the design reflect the client’s core business? How can we take a 35-year-old building and turn it into an innovative space for R&D and collaboration?

These are a few of the many questions that we wanted our design to answer. The client ARRIS is into the development of advanced broadband and video solutions for Gigabit broadband, 4K TV, Wi-Fi and more. The new space was to host a combination of engineers from two former ARRIS sites and a recently acquired company. It was to be ARRIS’ largest single-facility outside of the US, and among more than 60 countries.

Conceivably, it had to be a highly conducive and inspiringly innovative space for seamless collaboration. We chose to develop our design theme around ‘pixels’ – an element borrowed from and deeply integral to the client’s core business. We took the pixels up on the walls, and even onto the ceilings – the grandest rendition being that of the atrium, the make of which was unheard of in the market back in 2016. Furniture was designed to allow easy collaboration and in certain cases customised to be in tandem with the client’s identity.
 
Taking customisation further, the colour scheme was modelled on the seven SMPTE colour bars of the television test pattern. Meeting rooms bore visuals of knowledge-based shows, and other collaborative spaces that of entertainment shows and icons. Each floor had two pantries, the design, look and feel of which were again modelled on popular food & lifestyle shows and movies.
Coming to the building, the biggest transformation was to the reception area and the labs. We introduced a staircase in the former, installed an ‘evolution of the television set’ wall art, that led to the CEO’s cabin. Our Lab Design solutions concealed 80% of the wiring through smart furniture design and space planning. The bold colour scheme for the space allowed for easy visibility and better concentration.
 
At the end of this project, two significant things happened. One, the valuation of the building went up by INR 100 crore. And two, the design theme, approach and colour scheme that we conceived and executed became a design book to be followed by all of ARRIS’ 160 offices across the globe. The client has been with us ever since.