Sinking into a bean bag in office

find that an increasing number of architects are creating recreational spaces in corporate offices.

As an HR executive at Infosys, Vidya Kumar has a tough job on her hands. Her work keeps her occupied most of the time and there is hardly any left over for recreation. One of her friends exclaims, "When you work at Infosys, why do you need recreation at home!"

Well, she has a point. Look at the facilities at Infosys' huge campus in Bangalore. The company has a food court, a huge swimming pool area and a multi-storeyed gym, all housed within the premises. What's more, the Mysore Infosys campus boasts of a multiplex too! And while Infosys has taken a lead in creating recreational spaces in their offices, other corporates are racing ahead too.

It's clear that design spaces in offices are changing in a manner to include recreational corners and areas.

Not surprisingly then, architects are creating colourful power nap corners, well-equipped gymnasia with wooden flooring and mirrors to give a feeling of open space, Zen-inspired gardens breaking the design element to include jogging tracks, and vibrant food courts too.

For proof, let's take a closer look at the ICICI headquarters in the Bandra Kurla complex. It comes equipped with a cafeteria, a health club that boasts of a sauna and steam area along with space reserved for a Turkish bath. There's also a swimming pool that was specially created, and even a room for indoor games.

In addition, there is a quiet corner where there's a juice bar too. For those craving fresh air, a jogging track has also been created. The office of Bharti (Airtel) Televentures in Hyderabad, for instance, has a full fledged gym. It has state-of-the-art equipment and a fitness trainer to maintain fitness and health charts. Of the 300 employees, more than 25 per cent regularly visit the gym.

With a growing number of corporates taking their recreational spaces seriously, architects are naturally being told to build certain areas keeping these activities in mind. Hafeez Contractor, who designed the Infosys campus in different cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Mysore, feels that architects are increasingly "playing around with office spaces".

He adds, "For the Infosys campus, we used a variety of materials and experimented with acres of space that was available to us."

The tiles used for the swimming pool area, for example, were blue and red, while for the food court, he has used a unique green and red combination.

Raja Aederi, the architect who designed the ICICI headquarters in Mumbai, says, "These days recreational spaces in office complexes have become a norm. It's like having a canteen in an office...almost necessary."

Most architects feel that creating recreational areas allows them to get a break from the clutter of creating drab office spaces. As Contractor says, "While designing the food court for Infosys, we used vibrant colours like blue and green. Since people come here to take a break, we thought that the ambience should be a lot more colourful."

Speaking of vibrancy, Procter & Gamble's office in Andheri, Mumbai, is another place where work carries out in playful surroundings.

The P&G cafeteria, brightly lit with vibrant coloured walls and chairs and glass-top tables, is also equipped to support brainstorming sessions and has a LAN connection so that people can connect to the Internet and work from there. The cafeteria is equipped with a television set and invariably there is soft music that plays in the background.

The new trend in office recreational spaces is to create juice bars in gyms. Logitech Park in Mumbai has a gymnasium which is 4,000 sq ft. Besides, there's a squash court and a spa.

"The most important to keep in mind when designing recreational space in an office building is the expected usage of the space. If there are fewer people in the workplace, the space need not be much," says Aederi.

When constructing gymnasiums, architects feel the floor is the most important part and has to be non-slippery. Contractor also feels that recreational spaces should have as much natural light as possible.

Technogym, which works with interior designers and architects and corporates to plan and supply gym and spa material, has seen its clients double in recent times.

Says Pankaj Arora, MD, Technogym, "From a mere 1,000 sq ft space, gym and recreational space has now gone up to 3,000-4,000sq ft."

Corporates are waking up to the importance of recreational spaces in India as well. In fact, a tiny gym is no longer enough. They are ready to spend anything from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 1 crore on gym and spa facilities alone.

Moreover, the facilities are getting larger by the day. Where some years back an office gymnasium was made of one treadmill, one crosstrainer and one multi-gym, now offices want a whole range of equipment coupled with steam and sauna.

Elaborating on this, Arora says, "One such facility that we are doing in Hyderabad has, besides the gymnasium and spa, a swimming pool, a jaccuzzi and a multi-speciality restaurant."

In some cases corporates want architects to design and plan the space, so the important part is to look into the usage that they are targetting. "The flooring of the gymnasium and spa must be sweat proof, shock absorbent, non-slippery, sound proof, easy to clean and very durable," adds Arora.

Says Mohit Nayyar, associate director, human resources, Procter & Gamble, "We have moved from the narrow definition of "my cabin" to a more encompassing "my office "" my home". This is to encourage collaboration, interdependency and sharing among our people by creating a home-environment in a commercial setting."

Says Deepak Mehrotra, CEO, Airtel, mobile services, Karantaka, "These recreational activities are a good investment for us because they play a major role in team building and creating camaraderie among employees."

Deepak Gahlowt, architect, feels that office recreational spaces must make use of a lot of glass in their design. "This is because most offices tend to be closed and if this space is the only relief the employees have during work hours, it should be able to connect them with the outside world."

The glass used for recreational spaces is very different from that used in normal buildings. It allows for ample natural light that helps in activating the body clock and increases metabolism.

P&G also has informal areas that employees use to meet and chat over a cup of tea or coffee. There are "dens" created in P&G offices, an area perfect for relaxation and for brainstorming sessions too. These dens are styled in a contemporary manner with beanbags, a TV and a music system. The office also has a "garden patch" complete with garden umbrellas and seating for employees to "hang out".

The Bharti office in Hyderabad has a "Nirvana" room that besides being kept purposefully dark, has a large aquarium along with some bean bags and couches. No one is allowed to talk in this room, so it's basically for those who need silence. It acts as a de-stresser.

Who said blueprints for office spaces were simple with no room for creative design elements? You might want to meditate and find the answer to that in the "Nirvana" room.