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The concept emerged from a desire to rethink the relationship between architecture, landscape, and the evolving nature of work. The once industrial site, now flanked by dense green strips—offered a rare urban condition where nature could lead the design. Rather than dominate the ground, we allow the park to flow inward and make the base a shaded threshold. The form was sculpted through carving, corbelling, and shifting—guided by light, views, shading, program, and access. The courtyard became central to both spatial flow and environmental performance, resulting in a building that mutates to bind its defined internal program with the courtyard and the trees beyond through a series of shaded terraces.
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The quadrant shaped plot is flanked by long green spaces densely populated by trees. Our first thought when we visited the site was to consider the possibility of voiding the street level spaces to allow ‘Nature’ in. The building cantilevers and corbels preserve the outdoor views for all the working spaces while shading the community spaces at the street level, where the building essentially opens up to the city park and mediates the relationship between the public and private domains through the courtyards.
The building’s rotated and carved mass responds to solar orientation, minimizing heat gain and maximizing daylight. Deep cantilevers and overhangs shade the facade, reducing cooling loads. Courtyards and terraces encourage natural cross-ventilation, enhancing comfort without mechanical intervention. Materials are locally sourced, including indigenous stone and recycled metals, chosen for durability and low embodied energy. The compact footprint preserves permeable ground for groundwater recharge, supported by rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation. HVAC systems are zoned and demand-responsive to optimize energy use. Through careful design, the building has successfully achieved LEED Gold Certification and stands as a model for ecologically sensitive corporate design.
The Mankind Headquarters reimagines corporate architecture in Delhi as a site of convergence between people, ecology, and urban life. Set in a former industrial district, the quadrant-shaped plot is flanked by green corridors, which inspired the design. Instead of occupying the ground, the building voids it—letting nature and community life flow in. This subversion of typical corporate form creates a porous, breathing structure that connects rather than isolates. The mass is shaped by corbelling, carving, and shifting—moves that enhance daylight, views, shading, and ventilation. Greenspaces foster comfort and reduce energy use. At street level, the building engages openly with the city. It lifts into a shaded plinth that welcomes pedestrians and fosters community interaction. Informal gathering spaces and garden edges animate this zone, dissolving traditional boundaries of corporate campuses and transforming the project into a shared urban experience. Its strength lies in its simultaneous engagement with climate, context, and culture—offering a workplace that feels more like a living landscape than a closed structure; where workspaces open to the outdoors at every level, offering equitable views and stronger connections with nature. The defining characteristic is its generosity—of space, shade, and openness inviting participation, reflection, and connection.
We wanted a building that reflects our values—open, collaborative, and connected to both people and the environment. This headquarters goes beyond function; it fosters dialogue, transparency, and well-being. The experience of working here is shaped not just by the interiors but by how seamlessly the building engages with nature and the city around it.
MALIK ARCHITECTURE is a 47-year-old design practice based in Mumbai. It is a firm of architects, interior designers and services consultants.
In the last four decades, the firm has designed a number of prestigious projects in India and overseas, several of which have been published and applauded on esteemed platforms. It has won numerous design competitions as well as National and International Awards.
The professional philosophy of providing a comprehensive design solution and harnessing new technologies have resulted in innovative and dynamic solutions by the firm.
The practice attempts to develop a relevant contemporary syntax of architecture for the Indian sub-continent articulated through architecture as a synthesis of ‘Ecology’ and ‘Spirit’.
Through an ‘ongoing process of ‘Manthan’ or churning, the practice has gleaned from a rich historic, cultural and philosophical past incorporating a process of continuous change and generating a contemporary design idiom.
