Growing cities, often by default fall prey to a drone of construction, essential but banal- devoid of that spurt of energy that is indispensable to a vivacious metropolis. This project, a mega hybrid program in the space that is formed in between 6 large corporate buildings, may be seen as the catalyst that will infuse the city with vigor. In the relentless movement of the city, it is the space for pause for slow gentle moments and above all for pleasure: a pleasure of intrigue, serendipity and whimsy; an oasis where surreal juxtapositions make a dreamscape for the city of Noida. To make this oasis there are two strategies that have been employed: One, of creating a subset within the larger metropolis which is bounded and inward looking ; the other of a spatial poetic that emerges out of the elements within it and the narratives that they evoke. The site is circumscribed by an edge which is sometimes a wall and also a cascade of tree. These form a buffer to the corporate buildings that surround it. The program is dismantled and strategically strewn, consciously breaking the grid that surrounds it allowing for non linear physical and visual connections. The tall hotel remains as the icon on the street, completely segregated from the rest of the program that is behind it, hidden from the city, waiting to be unraveled. This space is entered through an otherwise inconspicuous entrance door in a dead wall facing the street. The entrance is made noticeable by its sheer redness, and opens into a quiet transition of trees, birds and a long water body, leading to a narrow street, slowly but definitely shuttign the city off behind it.

The building narrative emulates an adventure story, a sequence of surreal explorations with a poetic of the whimsy: clouds, tree tops, fish under water, wonky hats, opening trunks, and more each with its own story and inviting us to make some up as well. Sitting in between the grey cloned corporate buildings, the design aspires to bring irreverence and playfulness, like, would a red jacket in a board room.