Let's Talk | Volume 6 | Summer 2018

Volume 1 – Summer 2014

Design as the new business horizontal The inception of the GPL Design Studio

Volume 2 – Monsoon 2014*

The integration of subject matter expertise Mapping scale, scope and the Studio’s intent for impact

Volume 3 – Summer 2015

Design as the dot connector Our product proposition and design led development

*Awarded

Volume 4 – Summer 2016

Design thinking for business The impact of design on portfolio profitability - The Trees, Godrej BKC

Volume 5 – Summer 2017

Growth and Innovation

The need for twin engines to power your corporation

2014,

No part of the magazine can be reproduced without due permission from the editor.

Mail your suggestions and feedback to:

Namrata Mehra, GPL Design Studio, 5th Floor, Godrej One, Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli East, Mumbai 400079 nmehra@godrejproperties.com

To request previous issues email us at: gpldesignstudio@godrejproperties.com

a Gold statuette at the MarCom awards

one of only two winners from India

The

Anniversary Issue

2013 - 2018

The last five years

Five years ago, our Chief Design Officer set out a premise. Design could become a key differentiator in the real estate business. Our stakeholders immediately bought in and we committed to becoming a design led organization. In order to achieve this, design could no longer be a business vertical, it needed to become a business horizontal. This was the conception of the GPL Design Studio. A unique collective of creative people – urban designers, architects, interior designers, landscape architects, graphic designers, broadcast designers, environmental planners, engineers, artists and marketeers who also wear business hats.

The Studio’s mandate today is design, innovation, product development, brand building and creation of customer experiences across our portfolio. We work in collaboration with the best creative minds globally and locally, ranging from small to large creative practices. Our work and methods are slowly being recognized as a sustainable model by both - business and design communities to effectively collaborate, innovate and co-create win-win propositions together.

Namrata Mehra Editor

Pirojsha Godrej Executive Chairman, Godrej Properties

What is the future of Design?

Design Thinking for Business

Subject Matter Expertise

40

The future of the city

1

28

How can design take us from 10 to 20?

46

The evolving campus

62

Where will our kids play?

70 The simple pleasures of life

Editorial & Content

Anubhav Gupta, Namrata Mehra Art Direction

Namrata Mehra, Venkatesh Bilvam Communication team

Sujatha Moraes Wrik Basu

Photography

Jeff Goldberg Magda Bierat Edmund Sumner Manoj Jadhav Fabien Charuau Vikas Munipalle Wrik Basu

Special features

Anne Stenros, CDO, Helsinki Karla Bookman, The Swaddle Sameer Kulavoor

Contributions

Godrej Archives Sasaki Associates SOM Studio Lotus Mindspace Architects Site Concepts

LocoPopo - Lokesh Karekar Artlab - Ashwin Karupaiah Ankan Mandal Ayashkanta Rout C Satyanarayanan Dwaipayan Aich Esther Fernandes

Joydeep Mondal Mayank Poddar Neelam Sonawane Prashant Nanawane Priya Verma Raghuvir Khare Ruhie Pande Shraddha Dasgupta Sujatha Moraes Vaibhav Jain Yogesh Sapkal Layouts

Whitespace35

Proofing

Meghna Mehta Print supervision Sujatha Moraes

Printed by Commercial Art Engravers Pvt Ltd

Design - the 'Fifth Estate'

This may sound like a Game of Thrones or Dungeons and Dragons question but it begs some (design) thinking (?)

The French, during the Middle Ages talk about a tripartite social order; Oratores - those who pray, Bellatores – those that fight and Laboratores – those who work. The French Revolution or evolution of the separation of powers during the revolution reinterpreted this order as the three estates of Clergy, Nobility and the Bourgeoisie respectively. More recently, the three estates of the realm have been translated in separation of powers within the government as legislature, administration and judiciary. orATorES

BEllATorES lABorATorES

ThE ThrEE ESTATES in the Middle Ages.

ThE ThrEE ESTATES redefined for Democracy.

What constitutes the realm and what/who shapes it today?

Qu'est-ce que le cinquième-état?

Additionally, a fourth estate usually referring to the influencing forces outside the established power structure and sometimes evoking the Middle Ages construct is referenced as the independent press or media.

In today’s hyper dynamic world of convergence, rapid obsolescence, disruption and survival where big data and artificial intelligence are inevitable currencies of pervasive technology and mass consumption of media, the realm is being shaped in ways and forms that cannot be explained by the four estates alone. While ‘those that design’ were always a silent estate shaping the realm, their presence is being felt and heard here and now, and more than ever. In our new world, who is in charge? Is this by design or by default, by profit for a few or equitable to most, irresponsible to the planet or sustained for survival? Who else is responsible for shaping the realm today? The clergy was ordained by God, nobility by power, peasants by majority, media by independence and design by….default? Is this the emergence of the 'fifth' estate during the information revolution?

ThE FourTh ESTATE referring to the independent press or media.

outperformance

Data suggests that companies, which recognized this estate, outperformed the S&P index consistently by over 211% in the last decade.+

The idea of Design Thinking first articulated comprehensively, the power of shaping everything beyond the confines of traditional design discourse which was limited to specific disciplines and often confused about how things looked like. Designers also did not do themselves any favors in their preoccupation with personal egos and signature styles rather than truly focusing on connecting the dots and harnessing their power to shape the realm. However, this is changing now. Design Thinking is shaping Healthcare, Banking, Human Resources, Retail, Hospitality, Mobility, Technology, and the Government among other sectors. In corporate boardrooms, design seems to be solving problems for people, products, processes, partnerships, profits and the planet. Data suggests that companies, which recognized this estate, outperformed the S&P index consistently by over 211% over the last decade. From influencing life to shaping markets by design and now taking on larger more complex socio economic engines, cities like Helsinki and Los Angeles recently appointed their first Chief Design Officers.

*While there have been some references to 'Social media' being a potential contender for the Fifth Estate, the author posits all media / media companies / company and individual controlled social networking to be an evolved manifestation of the fourth estate.

Unlike media, design is perhaps a force to reckon with both within, as well as outside traditionally defined power structures of society to shape the realm. While design thinkers do not (yet) have to take the likes of a Hippocratic oath, it appears that the responsibility is not short of any moral obligation, especially in an era where any information/data can be harvested to manipulate the other estates and endanger the realm. This is a new realm in the information age of disruption and convergence where design should take center stage to help shape it for progress and survival. In such a realm when a priest, nobleman, farmer and journalist walk into a bar. 4 thuds later, the designer arrives. They clearly did not see that coming!

The Middle Ages construct and its evolution to the four estates may have been suitably augmented to add to - those who pray, those that fight, those that work, those that influence, to now include Conceptores –those that design.

Welcome to the Fifth Estate.

concEPTorES

ThE FIFTh ESTATE referring to those that design.

Welcome to tomorrow.

years

5We work in a Co-creation Co-ideation format with our design partners; all intellectual property is co-credited. This platform has produced and delivered several memorable projects.

Anubhav Gupta, our CDO was recognized as one of Asia's 40 under 40 leading designersPerspective Global, 11th Edition

The Imagine Studio was one of 6 shortlisted projects globally and the only project from Asia in the ‘Metal in Architecture’ category at the WAN awards

Awarded the Blue Elephant at the Kyoorius design awards for the Imagine Studio in the ‘Design for Space’ category and for ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ in the Installations category

Received an Honorable mention for the Imagine Studio at the 'Fast company Innovation by Design awards' in the ‘Spaces, Places and Cities’ category

GPL Design Studio recognized as India's Best inhouse Studio, 2017 at the Pool Show 2017

The Trees master plan - Honor Award by the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA) 2014 | Godrej One - Best Commercial Building of the year, NDTV Property Awards 2016 | Award of Merit (meritorious contribution to lighting design), The International Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), 2017 | Imagine Studio - Special Mention in the ‘Architecture + Metal’ category Architizer A+ Awards, March 2017 | Global shortlist (one of 25, the only project in from India to be shortlisted globally) Lamp Lighting Awards, March 2017 | Global shortlist - Adaptive reuse (one of 6, only project from Asia) The WAN Awards, December 2016 | Godrej Platinum, Alipore - Asia Pacific Property Award in the Best Luxury Residential Category & Best Landscape | Gold Prize Yuan Ye Award International competition 2017

Design Delivered

Godrej BKC is our most recently delivered commercial building. Designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), the asset houses 1.2 Mn square feet of grade A office space and a restaurant arcade anchored by public art.

With sales of 435,000 square feet office space to Abbott, Godrej BKC recorded India's single largest commercial real estate transaction in recent times

The building has a well engineered facade which is delivered to precise detail through a rigorous design led engineering process. The lines of the white aluminium fenestration modulates for solar sun-shading, daylighting and views. These clean lines are carried through to the granite clad columns that define the restaurant arcade anchored by Subodh Gupta’s evocative public art.

1670 Cr

Godrej One, our first delivered Class A, Platinum rated commercial asset in Vikhroli, set the benchmark for lease rentals and capital values for The Trees development

The Godrej Fund Management (GFM) managed GBTC-I (Godrej Build to Core - I) will take a 50% stake in Godrej Two, which will offer approximately 1.2 million square feet of Grade-A, Platinum Rated commercial space which will be constructed in three years. The equity deal value is US$ 200 million or approximately 1300 CR.

260 design disciplines integrated as subject matter expertise

weeks

The Studio has incubated and integrated several design disciplines that have in turn made the product and customer experience much more robust.

Environmental planning, masterplanning, landscape architecture, sustainability, interior design, branding, graphic design, product visualization, broadcast design, horticulture, wayfinding signage.

125+

landscape design plans

Design for

JITESH DONGA

ANAHITA ANANDAM

SUPRATIK DUTTA

LIPIKA JAIN

SARBANI BASU

SUMIT

PRIYADARSHINI

SHILPA SHINDE

NIKITA

ANUBHAV

SIDDHI THAKUR

The Studio can be described as an open source framework that applies the principles of design thinking and powers the organization to – ‘make good business sense, by design.’ Our work focuses on more than design focusing on qualifying the qualitative design (its benefits and evaluation) into a quantifiable framework for effective decision-making based on business priorities.

Scaling Innovation for growth

The Studio is premised on delivering high quality design through a collaborative format leveraging shared central specialists working hand in hand with empowered design leads.

Delivery.

committment.

What are the three tenets the CDO of Godrej Properties looks for in prospective employees?

DThe

We're looking for polymaths and talented designers who would be able to dynamically connect dots across variables and constants in an everchanging user equation to create winwin propositions for all.

I strongly believe that it is the fraternity of design itself that is between where we are today and our future tomorrow. The onus is on us to grab this opportunity and design a bright future both for India and the world stage at large. I remain very optimistic about this and I look forward to working with the rich diversity of creative talent interested in our mission.

ownership.

future is bright and designers can truly power the lights.

On the occasion of our fifth anniversary, our motto.

We don't come to work at the GPL Design Studio. We come to play. Playing is about being switched on, giving a shit, believing in the impossible, being infected by shared purpose, bound by legendary stories, strengthened by failures and celebrated by successes.

In our playground, we have player profiles for designers, design thinkers, subject matter experts, engineers, strategists, marketers and storytellers. We value diversity, integrity and ownership. We like to break barriers and jump traditional boundaries where breaking is not possible. Our design partnerships are also based on the same values and our invitation is open to anyone who fits the bill to come talk to us, explore synergies and play in our exciting playground, which is becoming larger everyday.

There is a strong connect between design and business strategy. By design, instead of by default, implies clarity on Why, What, for Whom and How. With the company set on achieving an ambitious Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and the idea that design could contribute significantly, the Studio undertook a comprehensive systems and design thinking approach to this business problem.

#10toPlenty

Adopting a comprehensive approach towards creating both shareholder and customer value, this approach sets about the three pronged strategies of using design to set up the base framework of high standards, building on that, creating consistent standardization and delivering superlative value through design differentiated projects.

Consistent Standardization

Standardized construction details for consistent and cost efficient delivery

High Standards

Robust product quality standards to deliver on customer promise

Unique Differentiation

Design led innovation to deliver business returns and give back to the brand

The Trees, Godrej Properties’ flagship mixed-use project. A distinct business case for unique design led differentiation

high Standards & consistent Standardization

We are fundamentally trying to change the way we provide value to our customers by design. This includes how we envision and design projects, assess business trade-offs using both quantitative and qualitative metrics, construct our projects, take them to market and deliver our products with great customer promise of brighter living and the highest standards of environmental sustainability. We found it extremely useful to tabulate all project information as a series of project libraries allowing for business to both understand and make project level trade-offs from ready reckoner references across our portfolio.

Setting up the Differentiation pipeline

Godrej Golf Links, NCR

Deal G Deal h

Based on evidence from already executed design differentiated projects, we found that they offered multiple advantages. They were wellplanned, well-executed, quickly and profitably sold, held their value, helped build brand equity, raised premiums for the neighbourhood, made for better customer NPS scores, fostered sustainable communities and build the team’s pride. Doing more of these over our portfolio ensured higher returns from less number of projects as compared to a scale-only cost led approach with thinner profits thereby increasing overheads. We built a business case to help change GPL’s strategy. In business development speak, we call this Deal G. To take our aspirations further in going from 10 to Plenty, our teams are now working on Deal H where we are focusing on minimizing risk and maximizing returns for the company’s PAT.

The need to plan design differentiated projects

Differentiated by designLakefront development

Often times, a unique location and a stringent set of constraints come together to create a singular design challenge. In this case, our latest project involved a land parcel on a lakefront with challenging soil strata, an internal mandate to do right by sustainable measures for an eco-sensitive zone and a challenging business plan. The solution created was truly differentiated by design with panorama apartments opening up towards spectacular lake views set amidst a recreational public realm embracing the lake.

Kaikondrahalli lake

The landscape response embodies a layered narrative; an activated heart anchored by the swimming pool and a grand atrium, the amenity panorama and the nature wetland trails punctuated by a series of land sculpted green berms.

The future of the city: Towards the human journey

-Anne Stenros, chief Design officer, helsinki writing for the GPl Design Studio.

In his brilliant book “Building and Dwelling –Ethics for the City” (2018), Richard Sennett argues that the subtle balance and division between people’s life and the built environment, in French 'the liquid cité and the solid ville', is the grounding epitome of the meaning of collective placeconsciousness: the physical place and the mentality of behaviours and beliefs.

As Sennett writes, “All city-makers have a particular experience of this tension just because of the brute fact that buildings are weighty things; if not eternal, buildings are going to be in place a long time.”

According to Sennett, we have lost the ethical compass of an urban experience by the overdominance of the built environment. To make cities more dynamic and livable in the future, we will need people-oriented urbanism, shared sensemaking and strategic storytelling.

However, the new physical-digital complexity of our societies and the unpredictable, openended futures demand a completely different approach than the old-industrial, materialfocused society that we were educated for and that we were used to. The emerging digital, artificial and virtual reality as well as the human-machine interaction, need the new type of designers to solve the wicked problems. These people can imagine and make the future visible. They represent the leadership of crowds, they think horizontally rather than in a linear way, they are self-organizing, they are driven by choices, and they are looking for patterns rather than elements. The designers of futures believe in the imagination economy, not the experience economy, and they appreciate the lens of diversity and shared sensemaking. And above all, from the problem-solving point of view, these leaders of the new complexity, they practice cocreation, courage – and collective creativity.

Today, we all agree that cities are the global powerhouses of economy, innovation and creativity. Cities produce most of the wealth in the world, they accommodate most possibilities for innovation and they cultivate cultural richness in a creative way. In a recent study on creativity and city (Serafinelli & Tabellini 2017), they found that “the emergence of city institutions protecting economic and political freedoms facilitates the attraction and production of creative talent”.

Designers are visual storytellers, explorers, and creative catalysts, all in all, change makers par excellence.

core characteristics

that enhance the urban creativity and make the city innovative.

1 2 3 4 5

Sense of a unique place and authenticity.

rich layers of culture experienced as diversity and personal opportunities.

The sense of freedom: openness, accessibility and high level of citizen participation.

The feeling of vitality: a vibrant city atmosphere with flourishing entrepreneurial spirit.

The ease of living –how liveable and lovable the city is.

Personally, I would like to highlight the importance of the sense of place through shared urban narrative and strategic storytelling. One way to create the understanding of the life of the citizens is through storytelling. Stories are a kind of pattern device to understand the world and the city. Strategic storytelling enables us to understand and foster the unique characteristics and the heritage of a place. Stories are the place, like people are the city. By combining the participatory problemsolving method to practices of urban anthropology and strategic storytelling, we can redesign and strengthen the unique characteristics of any given neighbourhood and/or place within the city. When involving local citizens into the co-creation of the future of the place, we engage and empower them to take an active, participatory role in the development of their neighbourhood and the city. In doing so, we are creating a unique urban user experience for the residents and the visitors alike by supporting the Genius Loci – the unique sense of place.

“The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working towards together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from the consumer to the co-creator.”* In the same way, through the strategic urban narrative the citizens will become the real actors, not just spectators of the city.

If we put all these pivotal elements together; the dynamic, creative city, the role of designers as creative catalyst, and the shared urban narrative, we end up with a people-oriented urbanism – and the humane city. All these elements together create the urban experience as a unique, human-centric spirit of the place. Eventually, a humane city inspires you to become who you are. And that is the beginning of the human journey.

Dr. Anne Stenros, architect SAFA is a thought leader on strategic design, creative leadership and strategic foresight, speaking and lecturing around the world.

Anne Stenros graduated as Master of Architecture from the Univ. of Oulu and the Univ. of California, Berkeley. She has the doctorate in technology in the field of architectural theory. She has acted as a Managing Director of Design Forum Finland between 1995-2004 and the Executive Director of Hong Kong Design Centre in 2005.

During the years 2005-2015, she was the Design Director at KONE Corporation, a world leading elevator and escalator company. In 2016, she was appointed as the first ever chief design officer CDO of the city of Helsinki. She has been rewarded with The Gold Estlander Medal (2015) and The Gold Medal of the City of Helsinki (2013). She is a founding member of Women in Tech Finland.

A city is the place of availabilities. It is the place where a small boy, as he walks through it, may see something that will tell him what he wants to do his whole life.

-Louis I. Kahn

The Evolving Campus

Vikhroli has always been a vibrant test bed for entrepreneurship, new visions, experimentation and innovation. The Trees, GPL’s flagship development has emerged as a successful prototype of a new way of thinking and delivering real estate in India. A brand new vision is currently underway, built on the premise of placemaking, identity and the promise of brighter living.

Believe into Being

The Cogeneration plants that once converted excess steam from the soap factories into electricity were transformed into an experiential representation of the 'Live, Work, Learn, Play' premise of The Trees master plan for the customer.

For the full video, visit https://youtu.be/xI6qhji8cG4

The Workshop is notionally, where your homes are built. An internal scaffold wall is the interface to the 'show apartments' for the residential development

The Studio is a gallery space where notionally your life at The Trees is imagined. Veil-like slatted interpretations of the silo form enclose the office spaces. A silo clad in brass and suspended from the ceiling makes for the AV room

The Godrej legacy as 'Past, Present and Future' represented in the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' by Ali Akbar Mehta and Vidha Saumya, allowed for first time visitors to learn more about Godrej

The landscape is peppered with remnants of the past - silos that now form seats beneath trees in the 'Legacy Park'

The Boiler room café is now home to the busting Vikhroli Social

Narratives

Storytelling

Authentic narratives rooted in our context have been key to developing the 'placemaking' strategy for The Trees master plan through a sustained collaboration with Godrej Archives.

Building Narratives

The next asset of our evolving campus involves building up the 'Learn' premise of the masterplan. Together with our design partners Studio Lotus, we are converting an existing shed into a state of the art R&D facility for our Group’s consumer products business.

The memory of the 'garden of fragrant flowers', that was the site for our headquarters building, Godrej One is brought to life as the forecourt of the 'R&D' building.

months

Sustainability, for us, is a core development proposition as well as a shared value and responsibility. We have committed to a minimum IGBC Silver (Indian Green Homes Building Certification) for all our buildings and mandated sustainable sourcing and operational standards from our partners. As a part of our CSR goals we established sustainability as a key priority measured against our aspirations to become carbon neutral, water positive and minimize waste to landfills by 2020. Today, we are managing to sustain our business alongside doing the right thing for the environment.

How do you ensure no more waste?

As part of our CSR mandate, we set up a waste management plant in collaboration with the city of Mumbai that will convert green horticultural waste to fuel briquettes.

50tons of

waste

converted to fuel briquettes each day

500metric tons

of waste diverted from landfill each year

The Future of Cities is Child’s Play

-Karla Bookman, Founder & Editor, The Swaddle

Play is underrated in India’s major metros. In an effort to prepare children for a competitive and fast-changing world, parents are increasingly investing time and money in didactic education, whether it be formalized school or a series of extra-curricular classes. Paradoxically, all that investment may be accomplishing the opposite result. Not only is play vital for children’s well-being – the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child declares it a fundamental human right – it’s also the best way for children to learn.

Research is increasingly showing that children learn best through exploration and play. Developing brains are not wired to imbibe facts and figures statistically, through lectures or tutorials. Instead, we are hard wired to learn by doing; play fires up the prefrontal cortex, spurring the development of neural connections in the frontal lobe. This is particularly important because those changes in the prefrontal cortex establish a child’s executive function, which is key to regulating emotions, problem solving, and strategic planning. Too much formal, structured education at a young age – at the expense of play – actually hinders the development of this part of the brain.

Free play is one of the best ways for children to learn until at least age eight. Children are building resourcefulness, creativity, the ability to problem solve and work together. Many of the soft skills that children build through play are skills that cannot be learned at a desk, and can only be learned through experience and exploration.

Unsurprisingly, given how important these skills are to adult achievements, children that have been given a strong foundation in explorative, creative free play ultimately do better academically than those children who have been taught in rigidly academic settings at a young age.

And a particularly important, and frequently overlooked, aspect of learning through play, is its physicality. Sure, kids are learning when they are engaged in free play indoors, but science shows that when accompanied by physical activity, the educational benefits of free play are further cemented. Additionally, in an increasingly sedentary modern world, the sooner outdoor physical play becomes a habit for the next generation, the healthier they will be as adults. Research is already showing that higher obesity rates correlate to urban areas with less access to green spaces. And India’s childhood obesity rates are rising fast, especially in urban areas.

An investment in outdoor spaces for children is an investment in the future of our cities. Kids who have had access and freedom to play are the ones who know how to explore, create, empathize, strategize, observe, and imagine as adults. If we want the cities of tomorrow to be hubs for creativity, innovation, strategic thinking, and collaboration, we can’t overlook where it all begins: on the playground.

Kids who have had access and freedom to play are the ones who know how to explore, create, empathize, strategize, observe, and imagine as adults.

High density

With a population density of 30,000 people per square kilometer, Mumbai ranks as the densest city globally.

Neither safe nor secure

With the increasing numbers of cars both on roads, streets and in parking lots, there are clear concerns from children having to negotiate traffic to increased pollution from vehicular exhausts in most high-rise developments.

Where will our kids play?

This is a common lament from any parent seeking housing in an urban context – a safe, secure, place for their children to explore and enjoy their environment. With most of our city’s public realm under assault from cars, such spaces are now smaller and devoid of the plurality, richness of spatial texture and engagement that characterize human centric development. We would like to change this.

Activist Interventions

In recent years, urban India has seen nascent activations; movements such as ‘Equal Streets’, ‘Happy Streets’ among others. In such engagements motorable thoroughfares are closed to vehicular traffic on one Sunday a month allowing for the community to use the space for engagement, play and interaction.

The basement underneath the residential building is ventilated using a landscaped stepped green form that morphs into kids play areas, water bodies, seats / benches and alcoves for active play courts. At designated times in the morning and early evening, operable bollards redirect traffic into the basements while hinged benches create nodes for interaction and a place for people to enjoy their reclaimed space.

The “own Street” allows for residents to take over their street and create a more egalitarian public realm.

PlAYGrounD PoInTErS

For MY DAuGhTErS

There are all sorts of kids playing out there. Some are friendly, some are bullies, some are shy & some who may simply ignore you. Be nice to everyone but always protect yourself from getting hurt.

There maybe boys who don’t let you join in their game but don’t feel bad. remember, there isn’t a single game which girls can’t play as well as boys. So practice, get good and it’s only a matter of time until they want you to join them. And before you know it, you can beat them at their own game.

When you find a tree you like, climb it cautiously. The lower branches are thicker but they get thinner the higher you climb and you could fall if you don’t tread carefully. If there is someone below who needs help always give a helping hand because at another time they might be higher than you.

You don’t always have to play the games your friends want you to. Its oK if you don’t want to join or just want to be by yourself.

In team games, if the boy captains don’t choose you, always ask them why. More often than not they won’t have a good reason and will be forced to think better the next time. If any of the girls playing know the game well, ask why they can’t be captain too.

Its not oK to huddle around in a group and make fun of another kid just because they look or act different. They may just know new games which are even more fun. Imagine how boring the garden would be if all the trees looked the same.

There are many kinds of swings, slides and trees to explore so be adventurous. unless you try everything how will you know what you enjoy the most.

The playground can be your world but someday the World will also be your Playground !

Wrik Basu

The simple pleasures of life

When you see the mural for the first time, you get particularly taken by the simplicity of it all. The paintings were those of people reading, writing, cycling, eating, animals gazing into the sky, plants sitting on a table, and so on.

Treating the space like a gallery, the artist took one large wall and delineated it into multiple paintings, complete with frames around them. The frames were also painted. Some of the paintings were bent into corners and wall edges, which made it feel a bit surreal.

The pleasure of solitude

The company of friends

In early 2017, I took a sabbatical and traveled extensively across South East Asia painting with gouache everyday. I was invited to work on a wall within the workshop building at the Imagine Studio. In wanting to keep with the same rhythm of painting from my sabbatical, I suggested the idea of expressing the beauty of simple everyday acts, in full colour. This seemed appropriate with the Studio's philosophy and resonated with the core concept of the development of The Trees project. My travelogue from the trip helped set the vibrant colour palette.

- Sameer Kulavoor

Sameer Kulavoor is a visual artist living and working in Mumbai, founder/director of Bombay Duck Designs and co-founder of 100% Zine. His work lies at the intersection of contemporary illustration, graphic design and art.

For the full video, visit http://y2u.be/spHpHnoMuC4

Bespoke - by narrative

GODREj ORIGINS

THE SHOW APARTMENT

Thoughtfully curated for an experience to imagine life in the development, the apartment was designed for a family of four with distinct personalities to bring to life the idea of a home. The narrative of stepping in as a visitor just as the family has stepped out, offered for a unique experience sparking ones’ own imagination of what their home would feel like, at The Trees. The ensemble furniture was developed with design partnersMangrove Collective.

In our furniture design, the experiential narrative helped bring to life the idea of the ‘lost prototype’ of the Godrej almirah fictionally developed by the grandmother's late husband who worked with the company as an industrial designer.

A day in the life of...

GPL Design Studio

50 50:50 CommitteD Designers genDer ratio

BaBy sHowers

years

aCComplisHeD interns

The future in part, is what we would like it to be. Specifically for organizations, it can be designed, not prescriptively but by putting in the right culture that adapts towards a logical evolution.

Anubhav Gupta Chief Design Officer, Business Head – Vikhroli, Head - CSR & Sustainability

The culture of Design

The design of culture and the culture of design may go hand in hand in our era of disruption and rapid globalization.

For the full video, visit https://youtu.be/EI6QOyclSXg

The Design of culture

'Doing the right thing' and not just 'doing things right' is the basis of Design Thinking for HR practices.

Ruhie Pande Chief Human Resources Officer

Dennis Pieprz Urban Designer, Principal, Sasaki Associates

The Sasaki team really appreciated the process led by the GPL Design Studio when we worked together on “The Trees” - an innovative new district planned for a remarkable site in Vikhroli. The collaboration transcended the normal client/ consultant relationship and led to a wonderful result.

We are thankful for everyone’s cooperation and support, and, believe that the Studio's way of working between the consultants, design and operations will be instrumental to the project’s success.

Bradford Perkins Cofounder & Chairman, Perkins Eastman

We had a very engaged and rewarding experience working with the Studio on the design and product development. The urban character and the potential of a community that will thrive on a sensitive urban approach towards the built environment, has made this project a benchmark for all involved in its conceptualization.

Masakazu Kimura Principal, Nikken Sekkei Ltd.

Ambrish Arora

Founding partner, Studio Lotus Liesl Vivier

Urbanism Director, Studio head, BDP Rotterdam

Working on the Imagine Studio with the GPL Design Studio presented the exciting challenge of looking forward by preserving the past. It was a privilege as designers to be part of such a varied and complex project and in a context where creative thinking was so actively encouraged.

We loved the way ideas were bounced back and forth between our team and the GPL Design Studio. The outcome of this process is a landmark master plan that also makes good business sense.

We are excited to be part of this exceptional development and the uncommon and intense collaboration with the GPL Design Studio, who have unstintingly devoted attention to prioritize the quality of open space planning and its visual impact on the nocturnal experience.

Dhruvajyoti Ghose Managing Director, Lighting Design Partnership (LDP)

ViewSynced model 1:1 Apartment layout

The Imagine Farm

The Mangrove wall Imagine life in The Trees - ad film

The jigsaw puzzle model Cabinet of Curiosities - art installation

Adaptive spaces explained through the flexibility model

prototype to sCale

days

Innovation for us is a problem solving approach best addressed through rapid prototyping and a robust feedback loop to address for scale and agile deployment.

Illustrated product stories

With their Pujo programme fast approaching Shiuli & her friends practise their dance routines at the amphitheatre. Their red costumes contrast beautifully with the white kaash flowers lining the area.

'Your home' typology model kit

BREEZE GARDEN

International Sales kit

This was our response to address an urgent requirement by our international sales team for an intuitive, portable, light weight product representation kit that would allow the team to walk prospective customers through the unique features of our developments. Starting from a prototype, this kit has already been scaled and delivered for several projects across regions.

Flexibility Model

Developed to represent the evolving life cycle needs of a family, the model has different sets of spaces that can be plugged into the base model. This allows for the inherent flexibility of spaces to be demonstrated while narrating the relatable story of ‘Ravi’ and ‘Priya’, our protagonists.

Coming home from school all Deya about is rushing down to try her crayon set. At the other end of the her brother sits deeply engrossed in a detective story.

A mild winter morning is best enjoyed walking around this dew kissed lawn lined with freshly bloomed flowers. Here is where Tukai walks his very first steps helped by his proud parents. The new family is nourished by the gentle rays of the sun.

VI n E cour T

The lazy afternoon reveals unlimited possibilities for Tia as she rides her bicycle all around the garden. A yellow butterfly catches her fancy and she tries to chase it as Dadu watches on.

CELEBRATION COURT

VINE COURT

ACCORD GREENS

A ccor D G r EE n S

cn I c GA r DE n

on weekends, neel and his father are typically absorbed in their Maradona vs Messi debate as they dribble the ball around. once exhausted, the pair sprawl across the grass in the golden glow of the evening sun.

ProductIllustrated Stories

Baboi wakes up thrilled to remember that vacations are on. He scampers down & calls out to his best friend to join him. The entire play zone imaginatively transforms to fit the adventures of the dynamic duo.

On weekends Neel & his father absorbed in their Maradona vs as they dribble the ball around. exhausted, the pair sprawl across in the golden glow of the evening Distinct landscaped courts brought to life through the eyes and evocative narratives of children from toddlers to teenagers - for a child centric development.

PICNIC GARDEN

PI

ADVE n T ur E GA r DE n

The focus on natural daylight and indoor air quality

Illustrated Installations

The comprehensive sustainability focus that underscored one of our recent developments in Bangalore was represented through a series of art installations that demonstrated our efforts to enhance the wellbeing and health of the community that would reside there.

Putting the pieces together

'Know your neighbourhood', the first of our many prototype models for young children, helps them understand and discover the idea of neighbourhoods, buildings and the spaces between them.

Different pieces of landscape plates and block buildings can be put together to make the complete master plan

‘Design in India’ before ‘Make in India’

- The emergence of ‘design-led’ real estate development and the birth of the GPL Design Studio.

“just so…. the Studio for us”

- The five Ws and the one H of our Innovation engine.

If on a winter’s night a storyteller

- Design thinking and the art of storytelling.

Wake up and smell the coffee!

- Business model innovation by design.

Sustainability by Design

- Creating 'win-win' propositions.

Hacked by Design

- Transforming corporations by making design the new business horizontal.

let's talK eDitorial series

Cultivating CULTURE in your corporation

- "Innovation belongs to culture by design, much like evolution belongs to nature by nurture."

Innovation and Growth by Design

- Firing up the engines for your flight.

“It’s subjective objectivity, jim but not as we know it”

- The essential integration of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the Design Thinking process.

Foresight 20:20

-Building jet engines to power your corporation.

www.linkedin.com/in/anubhavgupta3/ detail/recent-activity/posts/ /in/anubhavgupta3/ @DesignPolyglot

Thomas Watson Jr. at a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania www.mckinsey.com/businessfunctions/organization/our-insights/ good-design-is-good-business

AIA California Council www.aiacc.org/design-is-good-business/

www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/ sustainable-design-sustainability

Responsible Design Is Good Business Thomas Walton PhD

First published: 10 June 2010 https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1948-7169.2005.tb00196.x

www.metropolismag.com/ideas/design-education/ design-and-corporate-social-responsibility/ www.tandfonline.com/doi/ abs/10.1080/14606925.2016.1216211?%20 src=recsys&journalCode=rfdj20

www.theguardian.com/sustainablebusiness/design-sustainability-greenbehaviour

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/ pii/S2212827114005174

Studio Polaroids

The annual Design Conclave is one of the most exciting times of the year, we all eagerly look forward to. 50+ designers from diverse backgrounds with tremendous expertise from across the country come together to share stories of success and solve for common challenges on an open platform.

Profits from design seem to only be recognized after the fact of producing the tangible artefact, its tested user experience and subsequent business success made from the venture. However, whilst this success acknowledges design as a powerful contributor, its real value is never quantified, rendering it a speculative case-by-case investment to those who deem its importance necessary in today’s day. This varies from industry to industry. Clearly, those that have embraced design as a thinking methodology have benefited significantly. In the age of unimaginable change and disruptive innovation where our foresight and collective resolve for equitable sustenance will be tested, the future would have to be by design and not by default.

Our Fifth anniversary marks our recognition of Design as the Fifth Estate, which will help chart the path towards a brighter and more sustainable future.

@gpldesignstudio

/gpl-design-studio/ GPL Design Studio

/GPLDesignStudio

www.gpldesignstudio.com