Gym Diet Café II is the first professionally designed and the second café of a protein-based healthy food business, aimed to create a brand image through design which can be replicated in their upcoming cafés.
Project Name: Gym Diet Café II
Studio Name: Khudrrang Design Studio
Lead Architect: Hitesh Rathi
Location: Hisar, Haryana
Photographer: Harish Chhabra
Trying to show the journey of how the business grew and to depict the young and dynamic phase of the business, the initial idea was to start with something mathematical – which is the foundation of every business and change into something abstract.
We designed an iron structure with a rationally balanced frame consisting of two semi-circular arches that converts from top into a free flowing web of lines. This organic form starts from one of the arch center and ends into another, as if going back into its roots. The surrounding spaces were meant to compliment this structure.
The idea behind designing the surroundings was also to create contrasts which, in the bigger picture, might make the user metaphorically realize the opposite realms of life. So the design details were guided in the attempt to balance these contrasts. Healthy and protein-based food was related with the contrast of ‘soft & hard’ leading to the choice of Jute and Iron as the main materials.
Using jute also made the design cost effective and could act as a protection to everyday ‘marks of usage’ which in commercial spaces generally happen below the height of 3 feet. Now the challenge here was to achieve a visual balance between the glossy bright orange iron and the organically textured humble looking jute. This could be achieved by highlighting the jute fabric with slashes of light and framing it in black borders everywhere. The black borders made of plywood also helped hold the fabric tightly in place.
Overall design vocabulary continued being ‘organic & calculated’ in the iron structure, the ordering counter table and the fixed table along the mirrors. For example, the counter was wrapped in jute from inside while taking an organic shape and caged from outside in an iron structure of equally spaced bars and square grid mesh. The primary color palette of ‘beige & bright orange’ was maintained to create a mix of ‘laid-back & aggressive’ nature.
