Design Deconstructed
Apical Reform
Apenthouse on Judges Bungalow Road can easily stand out for its chic design and swanky décor—patterned screens, bespoke artworks, eclectic lighting and a sculptural staircase that lends a dash of drama to the grey and white space. The brain behind this was Apical Reform, a leading architecture and design firm in Ahmedabad that’s known as much for its architectural expertise as it is for functional art. The focus, they say, is on exploration in design— architectural, products and industrial. “We use digital fabrication as one of our main tools. We use laser cutting in metal and computer numerical control routing for metal and wood, water-jet cutting for wood, cement sheets and glass," says Amrish Patel, 36, principal architect at Apical Reform, who, along with Darshan Soni, a CEPT alumnus, leads a team of young designers
TREND CHECK Right now we are exploring new methods of design expression, the latest being projection mapping—Arduino programming for installations or functional art,” says Patel.
THE BEGINNING Their own studio campus on S G Highway is an example of eclectic design. A work of functional art that particularly stands out is the Betula chair, a sinuous structure made of birch ply that’s high on aesthetics and ergonomics and represents “fluid deconstructivism”. Details apicalreform.com