Interrupting Status Quo

T.ZED Architects designed an office for a new property development firm, while challenging conventional workspace concepts.

Dubai-based T.Zed Architects, founded by Tarik Al  Zaharna, aims to reinvent the wheel of spatial architecture in offices with its latest project.

Dubai-based T.Zed Architects,founded by Tarik Al Zaharna, was commissioned by KOA, a new forward-thinking development firm, to design its sales office as a unique and versatile space. “The objective of the office is to provide users and visitors a sense of what the firm’s projects will offer its clientele,” says Zaharna.

“The brief required a more relaxed approach to sales as well as an opportunity to showcase the multitude of natural materials as well as proximity to nature and landscaping emphasis in KOA’s developments.”

Other requirements in the brief were to create a meeting room for conversations as well as presentations. It mandated that visitors should feel at home upon entering the office, and a homestyle functional pantry with a floating kitchen island for plans to be showcased in a similar manner as if clients were gathered around a dining table at home.

Familiar comfort aside, the project had to address the existing challenges including working around the building’s permissible work hours and schedules. While most material deliveries could take place during the daytime, construction and fit-out could only be carried out in the evening.

“The building also had its own fit-out code, which we were required to adhere to, but following some persuasion through our designs, we were able to arrive at an outcome that suited both the building management’s design guidelines while maintaining our design direction,” says Zaharna. “The project timeline was also very tight.”