An alumnus of IIT Bombay, Kunal is a serial entrepreneur, an angel investor, and a tech-led commercial design & build leader. He has deep domain expertise in business strategy, sales design operations, and product management that has helped many companies move forward in the market. Before joining Flipspaces, Kunal established educational platform Mexus Education and he has been a guest lecturer for entrepreneurship at IIT Bombay and Ruia College, Mumbai.

Every firm, whether it is a startup, a co-working space, or an MNC, they all face unique challenges when it comes to office design, including limited budgets, changing needs, and the need to create a space that reflects the company's culture and values. The designers and architects have to use cost effective, yet innovative ideas through which they can achieve their design goals within their budget by using cost-effective materials, repurposing existing furniture and equipment, and finding creative ways to maximize space utilization. With changing needs as the company grows and evolves, perfectly designed office spaces need to be adapted accordingly by incorporating flexibility and modularity into the design. This includes things like movable furniture, adjustable lighting, and flexible workspaces that can be reconfigured as needed. Every firm has a unique company culture and requirements. They have different set of values that they want to reflect in their office design. Firms often have a collaborative work environment, with employees working in teams on different projects.

Technology is the way forward and will always be at the forefront empowering the designers & architectures to deliver exceptional designs and finishing

Creatively designed office spaces foster collaboration and teamwork, incorporating elements like open workspaces, breakout areas, and collaborative technology like video conferencing and interactive whiteboards. Regardless of the company's size, they are often focused on growth and expansion, and need office designsthat can accommodate future growth. Therefore, the real estate & construction is in dire need of cutting-edge technologies to provide affordable and safe housing. As the level of pollution and contamination is up-scaling day-by-day, we need some robust system of operation at the earliest to guide our forthcoming generation towards a healthy environment to breath in fresh air. Green and sustainable technologies are getting mixed with the concept of architectural science and giving birth to more new concepts of designs in real estate. The construction industry involves an almost infinite number of different processes, methods, and operations of various complexities. The use of energy-efficient, eco-friendly, and sustainable materials have soared high in such a short period of time. For this reason, the applicable scope of digital technologies is equally enormous.

Pivotal Role of Technology

The avant-garde technologies are enabling businesses with a one-stop integrated solutions that are bringing the fragmented pieces of space planning, interior designing & visualization, furniture selection, services and project management under one roof. Initially it starts with client discussion where layouts are created based on the bare-shell floor plate and mapped to the clients requirements. If the customer has not yet found a commercial space and needs to find the right kind of property as per their requirements, the expert team helps them with the same using AI based platforms which are a one-stop property discovery platforms.

In the space planning stage where the technology allows to convert 2D layouts into a basic 3-D walkthrough, where customers can choose from market available interior products and finishes in one go. These products and finishes are real time changeable through market available products during the 3D visualization walkthrough stage. Once all the details are finalized and the project is being executed, the technology allows customers to know the whole range of features that benefits the customers with real time updates on the project, remote site viewing amongst other features.

Interior Designing has been evolving at a rapid pace over the past few years with the rise of technology within the domain. The deep penetration of technology in architectural science has given birth to a lot of tools and applications in architectural and interior design field.

Technology for Adaptability, Comfortability & Flexibility in Office Space

Technology: With respect to incorporating technology into office design briefs, things like smart lighting & temperature control, collaborative technology such as video conferencing & interactive whiteboards, IoT devices such as smart locks & sensors and AI rooms for the movement of AI generation in terms of design are helping in customizing every process based on needs and requirements.

Comfort: A well-made comfortable office space is designed and built to help in reducing employee stress and improve overall well-being. Thus, prioritizing employee comfort focusing on a few factors such as lighting, temperature, acoustics, and ergonomics is a must. Now-a-days expert designers are incorporating seating booths in windows, a few sleeping pods, ledge seating and a lot more age specific seating solutions. For an example, Allied Digital, an IT firm - keeping in mind the age group of the employees they have designed multifunctional seating which are comfortable to the youth.

Flexibility: When a designer is designing a flexible office space that can adapt to changing needs as the company grows, veteran designers try to include things like movable furniture, adjustable lighting, and flexible workspaces that can be reconfigured as needed. Since the office cabins are designed with dry walls or partitions, they can be easily dismantled for any future expansion or revamping into smaller zones within the office space. While providing multifunctional zones, one has to keep in mind the basic HVAC and MEP services are planned to accommodate future changes. And this can be designed and finalized anytime, anywhere leveraging AI tools effectively.

Few Top Notch Design Approaches in Architecture

Sustainable approach: Now-a-days green architecture is trending, and everyone is obsessed with eco-friendly building. A sustainable architectural approach involves designing buildings to minimize any negative environmental impact. By using energy efficient and eco-friendly materials, the veteran designers are making state-of-art architecture.

Experiential Approach: This approach is very immersive, in which a building is designed as an experience. It incorporates every impression that a visitor will have on the building - creating a fully immersive experience. This approach is focusing on aesthetic values and guides a visitor through the experiential inner-workings of the beautiful piece of art that is your building.

Practical Approach: It is the most used cost-effective strategy, and through this approach designers are using the most practical materials, the most efficient design, and overall a traditionalist strategy. When the customer wants a bold architectural design, in that case this is the most effective one. A practical approach is a reasonable solution to design everyday buildings.

Exerting Tools Effectively
Interior Designing has been evolving at a rapid pace over the past few years with the rise of technology within the domain. The deep penetration of technology in architectural science has given birth to a lot of tools and applications in architectural and interior design field. These advanced tools also help with smart furniture placement, choosing the right color palette, smart lighting solutions, space optimization and in the process of texture visualization, and so on. The role of architecture in shaping designs for IoT-driven smart buildings is pivotal and multidimensional. Artificial Intelligence is the new addition in the list of pride which is restructuring the corporate world and boosting the economy. Tools like Adobe Illustrator, and Sidewalk Labs are using 3D models, chatGpt enabled AI system to create custom graphic design which are accurate and cost-effective. The main challenging part lies in achieving a delicate balance between functionality, aesthetics, and crafting designs that not only embrace IoT’s cutting-edge capabilities but also elevate the overall architectural experience.

Future Outlook of Design & Architecture
As the future of design & architecture unravel, specifically commercial design, AI will continue to be in the forefront of innovation. It is profoundly empowering and up-skilling designers to create more personalized experiences and unlock new levels of visualization, creativity and functionality.
Additionally AI is playing a role of a game-changer to designing and inhabiting spaces and revolutionizing the design and architecture space.
Ultimately, designing a new space is like creating a new world. Virtuous and proficient designers are endeavoring to put the joy back into this process of design and architecture with the essence of high-end technology. And driving customer’s delight in every step of this process is only possible through a bespoke tech-suite combined with category defining processes and benchmarks.