Studio
The daylit half. North glazing, no direct sun at any hour, and desks arranged so no screen faces a window.
Northlight Studio
A photography and post-production studio where every decision was made by asking what it would do to the light.
- Location
- Hyderabad, India
- Area
- 4,600 sq. ft.
- Type
- Commercial
- Year
- 2025
- Scope
- Design + Site Supervision
- Programme
- 7 months
§ 01
Project story
A photography and post-production studio where every decision was made by asking what it would do to the light.
The tenant grades images for a living. Colour temperature, reflectance and glare were not finishes here, they were the brief — the interior is essentially a large, calibrated instrument with desks in it.
Grading suites need controlled darkness; the rest of the team needs daylight. The plan separates the two absolutely, with an airlock corridor between them so no stray light ever reaches a calibrated screen.
Daylit open studio along the north glazing, sealed suites in the core, meeting and client review in between at an intermediate light level so eyes adapt gradually.
Ishan Kurup, Nikhil Sen
§ 02
The design
Five materials carry the whole project. Everything else is a variation on one of them.
Neutral Grey LaminateDesks and review surfaces
Pale AshJoinery
Acoustic FeltSuite linings
Micro-cementFloors
Matte BlackSuite walls and ceilings
§ 03
Room by room
Desk
Height-adjustable, neutral grey, and deliberately unremarkable — nothing on the desk should influence a colour judgement.
Review
Client review sits between the light and the dark halves, at an intermediate level, so eyes adapt on the way in.
Quiet
Two single-person rooms with no glazing at all, for the work that cannot be done with people walking past.
Open plan
Support and admin sit south of the studio, in ordinary light, with planting doing the work the glazing does elsewhere.
Desks are height-adjustable and finished in a measured 18 % grey — the only colour decision in the building that was made with a spectrophotometer.
Full-spectrum 5000 K in the studio, 6500 K reference in the suites, 3000 K everywhere people are not working. Nothing dimmable is on the same circuit as anything calibrated.
§ 04
The plan
LivingKitchenDiningBedroomBathTerrace
- 1
- 8
- North glazing, sealed core
- 4,600 sq. ft. single floor
§ 05
Gallery
Hotel Marana