This chic office in Mumbai is every worker’s dream

SutraHR has gone ahead and innovated with its workplace design, making it appear more like a cool lounge.

Work is serious business. Yes, it needs discipline but who said it needs to be boring! The realisation that bright, colourful and engaging workplace designs have a huge impact on employee morale and productivity, seems to have finally dawned. Many organisations are now openly experimenting with new workplace designs and concepts. Bean bags, colourful break-out areas, intriguing art works, quirky furniture, green spaces and many more interesting elements are being used to create workplaces that are fun and engaging.

However, this one company has gone ahead innovating with its workplace design such that it breaks all monotony of a typical office and looks more like a cool lounge. Enter the office of SutraHR in Mumbai and the blue Moroccan-themed office is sure to put an end to all your workplace blues.

The Company recently converted its terrace into a Moroccan-themed lounge to allow people to unwind while at work. The founder, Waqar Azmi, is an avid traveller and his visit to Chefchaouen in Morocco had left him spellbound, so much so, that while planning to give their office a fresh look, he decided to theme it around this North African country. Mumbai, with its clustered architecture and heavy rains gets difficult in the monsoons. Also, the cramped buildings in the city do not allow most people the luxury of owning a terrace. While this company did have a terrace in its office, it lay waste during the monsoons. Azmi felt they could make good use of it, and hence, decided to convert it into a lounge where people could work in an open, quirky environment.

“The idea is to break the monotony of working in a fixed space, giving employees the liberty to work from the terrace lounge with the Mumbai skyline for company. They can even discuss initiatives in the open air or just relax after a tiring day,” says Azmi.

Azmi’s personal and extraordinary effort to create the lounge is evident from the fact that he sourced and curated the finest elements himself. He cherry-picked some of the artefacts from Morocco and certain antique shops in India, and sourced the tiles for the lower seating area directly from Jodhpur. The terrace has a lower seating hookah corner that makes for an interesting and unique feature for a workplace to have.

People here can just relax or brainstorm at the hookah corner while sharing a smoke. Azmi says, “Have you known about an office which talks over Hookah sessions? Probably, no! However, we have Hookah Nights every Thursday, where we brainstorm different ideas while sharing a hookah, followed by casual chit-chat and music. This successful practice has brought in maximum participation from all, making it a night to look forward to.”

He shares that it takes heart and soul to design and execute such a workplace, but it is all worth it when people at work feel happy and engaged.