Experience Narrative Adaptive Interactive Human-centric Activation
Interior and Spatial Design
Portfolio
Karol Amrita
Selected Work
Click on project images to explore
1
Temporal Commons (MA Final project)
Research-driven and community-led design proposals aimed at invigorating independant retail communities. Set in Rye lane.
2
INSHOTS Office (CCD finalist)
An innovative and sustainable office space design for an online newspaper agency
4
3
Qmin
A semi-premium fast snack kiosk aimed at working professionals at the Bangalore airport terminal 2
Petals
A furnishing store environment that evokes the brand’s name through textures and an organic spatial flow
5
Narayani (VM&RD award shortlist)
A Heritage-inspired spatial experience for an ethnic-wear showroom
Temporal Commons
Modular kiosk for Rye Lane traders
Designing adaptable retail infrastructure for microenterprises in high-rent urban contexts.
Challenge: Create flexible spatial solution serving diverse business types while enabling community participation in design decisions.
Modular kiosk with sycamore seed-inspired structure adaptable to four locally prominent retail types - food, fashion, crafts, and services. Folding weather protection, interchangeable shelving, and lockable storage enable one structure to support multiple revenue streams. Co-design process with 45+ community participants validated design decisions, ensuring solutions respond to actual retail requirements and preserve local identity.
Intuitive assembly of modular components
Click-lock axis
Modular wings
Lockable wings
Anchoring posts
Folding roof canopy
Food Kiosk
The Helicopter Kiosk functions as a time-shared resource for traders during the day, ....and transforms into a space for interaction and community at night.
Temporal Commons
Community archive
Cast-concrete seating at Peckham Square embedding stories from 45+ participants, anchoring Rye Lane’s cultural identity.
Challenge: While the Helicopter Kiosk enables economic survival through affordability, gentrification erases cultural memory. Estate demolitions and shop closures dislocate embedded narratives.
Approach: Co-designed through memory mapping exercises. Wave-form echoes maritime/ Caribbean migration histories. Objects surface through concrete, materializing community stories. Heavy cast concrete materially resists erasure.
Click on the image below to view a video documentation of Temporal commons.
Objects associated with gathered stories
Together: Helicopter Kiosk (temporal mobility) + Memory
Capsule (temporal permanence) = complete resilience.
Architecture holds space through shared governance, time, and memory.
MA work by Karol Amrita
INSHOTS Office, Noida
CCD 2019 Finalist | Innovative Sustainable Workspace Design
A collaborative workspace designed for INSHOTS, an online newspaper agency in Noida, India.
The design responds to emerging workplace needs, flexibility for emerging editorial models, healthy environments supporting creative work, and ecological responsibility.
Organic Circulation reduces institutional feel and supports spontaneous interaction moments. The fluid movement patterns feel natural and non-hierarchical.
Proposed layout for INSHOTS office in Noida Spatial Organization: The ‘Bubbles’ Concept”
INSHOTS Office, Noida
CCD 2019 Finalist | Innovative Sustainable Workspace Design
1. Sunken Circular Collaborative Platforms
Lowered collaborative spaces create intimate gathering zones signaling different activity modes through physical elevation changes. Rope sliding partitions provide flexible acoustic and visual separation, allowing the space to adapt between open collaboration and focused small-group work.
2. Terracotta Jaali dividers
Beyond practical ventilation and natural light benefits, this innovation addresses the ‘open office backlash’ through thoughtful visual connection rather than complete isolation.
3. Organic Circulation Paths
Curved corridors reduce institutional feel and support spontaneous interaction moments. The fluid movement patterns feel natural and nonhierarchical.
Working zone,Terracotta Jaali divider for individual stations with a central sunken focus zone
Qmin
A plantation-themed kiosk cafe
Brief: Create Instagram-worthy brand experience within compact egg-shaped area while maintaining efficient operations.
Plantation-inspired design with layered organic forms reminiscent of terraced tea plantations, maximizes unique spatial constraints while creating visual anchor in busy airport terminal. Organic forms define customer circulation and establish multiple photo moments, translating tea heritage into immersive spatial narrative.
A cafe kiosk for Qmin’s tea-focused brand targeting young professionals and image-conscious travelers.
Category Cafe Kiosk
Location
Bengaluru Area
355 sft
Timeline
2021
Space allocation and Customer flow
Coffee Pods
Plantation
Petals
A tactile furnishing experience
A furnishing showroom requiring efficient display and storage for diverse product range within challenging low, uneven ceilings.
Petal-inspired organic ceiling forms disguise spatial irregularities. Muted textural palette allows fabric colors to dominate. Workflow analysis informed storage hierarchy: wallpaper catalogues organized for staff efficiency, customer-dependent fabrics in prime display zones, achieving dense storage. Strategic lighting design creates a spacious environment.
Category
Furnishing retailwallpapers, fabrics, curtains, mattresses, window blinds, bed linen, hardware
Layout
Narayani
A Heritage-inspired spatial experience
A luxury ethnic wear showroom for a brand rooted in Hindu tradition, designed to resonate with Hyderabad’s culturally diverse clientele. Challenge: Translate mythological inspiration Svargathe heavenly abode into contemporary spatial experience while maintaining seamless circulation and elevated brand identity.
Drawing from the lotus motif in the brand logo, the design cascades through tone-on-tone patterns, arched forms, and border details. Warm cream tones with gold leaf and brand purple create an ethereal atmosphere, guiding customers through an intuitive journey from dramatic entrance to consultation zones.
Category
Regional ethnic retail
Location
Attapur, Hyderabad
Area
3000 sft
Timeline
2023 (Jan-Feb)
Brand pattern development from logo
Saree wardrobe details consistent with brand visuals
Instore details - POS backdrop detail, display area, display detail
Transitional zone at store entrance, introduces customers to ‘Narayani’
VMRD Awards shortlist 2024.
Designing for Experience
Creating spatial narratives that honor community, celebrate heritage, and shape how people move through the world.
Interior and Spatial Designer
karoluk750@gmail.com +44 7553 994 799
linkedin.com/in/karolamrita karolamrita.framer.website