Expressing Expresiv
Designing space for a design startup
The idea of a lean startup is not readily entertained in Nepal. May be because there aren’t many.
A couple of my friends own/run Expresiv — a design start-up based in Kathmandu and Boston. They wanted to transform their Kathmandu-based office with a workforce of ten engineers and designers to a San Francisco style start-up.
I was excited. I had already collaborated with them as an architectural consultant in a hospital project. I enjoyed the work culture at Expresiv, the expressive designers, and especially the ever freshly brewing Espresso. Since I was a freelance architect, I had started to hang out with these people after the project was over. We were all designers, so we clicked.
Expresiv Studios had started at 2 members, a UX and a UI designer, that scaled to 10 in just two years. They were now moving to a 1400 square feet of space in one of the most busiest commercial parts of the city.
The idea- Keep it Open!
Except for one partition/room, about 1100 sq. ft. of space was free for play. So I started planning the space to accommodate the UX/UI designers, illustration artists, web and mobile virtuoso. My idea was to break the stereotype office models that were popular in Kathmandu.
Users largely shape the design and flow of architecture. For this project, the clients were open, accommodating, and one of the best designers in their field. The close working relationship was helpful in coming up with what I had in mind.
I started scribbling in notebooks, loose sheets and glass boards. Layouts, designs and redesigns — the usual. We came up with a space incorporating free space, private spaces, welcoming lounge, recreational zones, pantry, a striking showpiece, and others.
Simultaneously, after the initial cost breakdown, we had to eliminate (or plan for Phase II) several elements such as partition, glass doors/windows and even cut back on couple of furniture. Our only resort was to cut back on cost as much as possible so that Phase II becomes approachable.
I also prepared electrical drawings for lighting and placement of power sockets.
To Action
The first work on site was to raise a brick wall in huge open floor to segregate our rented space. The wall was designed to serve as a huge scribbling canvas, roughly 22’x10’ in size. We painted the ceiling and walls white, hired an electrician to install any necessary extra illumination and power supply. We went back and forth on flooring materials. Finally, after a hustle on finding a vendor who painted epoxy, floor was settled gray.
To let the fidgeting minds flow without any restriction, we experimented Epoxy for the new wall too. But our experiment failed. It wasn’t write-able or re-writeable. A crucial part of the design was this wall serve as a writing board. Over the Epoxy finished wall, we hung ACP panels. That failed too. For the next couple of weeks, the wall screamed for attention. A 22’ long wall- DESERTED!
We moved to this space as soon as the walls and floors were dry.
We bought new desks and chairs, and used some furniture from old office too. The open planning (lounge, workstation, pantry; in that order) didn’t quite work. The designers were distracted with activities in adjacent lounge space and pantry. So we pulled the glass partition from Phase II to imminent action and placed frosted tempered glass to cover the pantry space. We then added another see-through partition cupboard between lounge and workstation. We added few more cafe tables and an umbrella to designate the cafe area.
Two weeks later, one of the co-founders stands in centre, looks around and says, “I’m unhappy.” When asked why, he said the space looked dead.
If only we could give a purpose to the wall. And the entire space was too white.
He solved half the problems. The deserted wall would now be a UI wall; exhibiting the recent projects and designs.
Our initial plan was to install an old boat salvaged from Pokhara. We then thought of growing an indoor bamboo wall. We even fiddled over hanging a hammock.
We went to a nearby nursery and bought plants for several corners. On one of such sunny afternoons, we painted all the flower pots white. Green definitely complimented the white space. It didn’t seem dead anymore.
Every corner and every space narrated a character for us. But once the eye level hit the walls, they still demanded some attention. We then hired local artists to conceptualize Expresiv’s working process, the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), in Mandala. Yes, a Mandala!
As daunting as this task was, the amazing artists trio designed a prototype. In the next 5 days, they painted a masterpiece on one of our walls. The masterpiece embraces ‘तमसोमा ज्योतिर्गमय’, which means ‘From darkness to light’.
Read the story behind this amazing Mandala here:
A lot of things had failed. Few other things worked. With all right and wrong decisions, it was like achieving a milestone — transformation of a lean start up.
Expresiv gets a lot of visitors- some clients, others friends. Some adore the space, others come with suggestions.
This is a story about Expresiv. Find out more about Expresiv at:
