Mana, IKSOI Design Studio's workspace does not seek to overwrite its history, but to engage with it. Retrofitted within an abandoned factory that belonged to Dhawal and Mansi's father, this 2000 sq.ft. workspace is an evocative exploration of memory, discovery, and design. The intervention is subtle yet profound—retaining the site’s original footprint while raising the ground level, IKSOI has created a space where the familiar becomes unfamiliar, and where walls once enclosing functions, now invite curiosity. Neither a mere restoration nor a stark reinvention, Mana exists in the in-between, where architecture becomes a quiet dialogue between what was and what could be.
From the outside, the studio reveals little. The site is enclosed by towering compound walls, rising between 4.5 and 6 meters, creating a stark boundary with the gray and gritty industrial surroundings. As one steps inside, a striking pop of color immediately disrupts the monotony. A monolithic composition of lime-plastered walls painted in a muted pink hue, leaves one surprised, if not mesmerised. Then, a quiet sense of curiosity takes over. “No element is where one would expect it to be,” observes Mansi. The absence of an obvious entry only heightens this intrigue.
While the office layout follows the footprint of the site’s original structure, the ground level in the middle courtyard has been raised to create an unexpected effect: where the new refurbished buildings now sit partly sunken into the earth. This shift in the site level, turns what were once the doors to the factory hall, into windows for the workstation, thereby maintaining the memory of the site’s past life. Their appearance at unconventional heights and in varying sizes, are dictated not by design conventions but by the architect’s resolve to retain the framework of the past structure.
