Natural Paramount Agro Shop: When architecture reflects the ethos of a company

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city stands a tree-house like structure, with a wooden exterior, embracing a banyan tree in its vicinity. It sticks out like an oasis surrounded by the city's concrete. 

The structure - Paramount Agro Ltd at Kamal Ataturk Avenue - promotes nature-based and regenerative architectural design. The fountain, pond, and green patches on the exterior facade of the Natural Paramount Agro Shop is driven by that nature-based concept.

Upon entering the place, one notices the hut-shaped wooden structure in the middle of the outlet displaying dry organic products. The small greeneries hanging from the ceiling further add to the theme of the setting - of being enveloped in nature.

Studio Dhaka Ltd designed Natural Paramount Agro Shop, an outlet of  Paramount Agro, in 2017. It was designed by architect Muhammad Moniruzzaman, Principal Architect of the firm. 

The design was done using feasible and relocatable materials to spread awareness about the production and consumption of organic products.

"We wanted to portray an organic and nature-based theme in the design of the city display and sales centre of the Paramount Agro Ltd, according to our client's needs," architect Moniruzzaman explained. 

Paramount Agro produces organic agro and dairy products. It is a sister concern of Paramount Group, which specialises in textiles, insurance, chemicals, real estate, and construction. Alongside raising awareness of organic products, the structure of the display and sales centre also intends to encourage others to adopt organic farming in Bangladesh.

"Our brand name is O'Natural. As our products are all healthy and organic, our concept was to display our products within nature in a spacious area," said Md. Robiul Islam, the company secretary of Paramount Agro Ltd. 

"From that point of view, we wanted to have such a nature-friendly design, which was also well appreciated by our long-term, trusted customers." 

Paramount Agro and Architect Moniruzzaman collaborated in earlier projects of the company as well.

The exterior

The exterior facade of the outlet is composed of a brown wooden texture to resemble a natural look. The glass walls used in the design seamlessly connect the interior to the surrounding environment and create a spacious facade.

To ensure maximum natural light in the space, glass walls and wooden louvre doors have been used. The wooden louvre doors can be folded to let more daylight in whenever necessary.

On the exterior, a fountain and waterbody have been installed to replicate the beauty of nature. The waterfall-like fountain and small greeneries were added not only to soothe the minds of the workers and consumers, but also the pedestrians.

"The fountain and little pond leaves a soothing impact on the minds of the passers-by," added Moniruzzaman. The sound of water, emerging from behind a foliage, interrupts the sounds of the busy roads. 

Amid the high-rises in Banani, the nature-based one-storey outlet of Paramount Agro reflects the need to incorporate nature into our urban environment.

Cost-effective materials for the composition of the outlet were chosen with the aim to ensure reusability of the materials in the long run.

"We used wood, boards, and glass instead of bricks for the composition so that it can be relocated if necessary. It was designed with a vision of long-term cost-effective sustainability," explained the principal architect.

A challenge in designing the display and sales centre of Paramount Agro was incorporating the existing banyan tree on the site into the design of the outlet.

"Instead of cutting down the tree, we focused on how we can incorporate it into our project design", added architect Moniruzzaman.

The colour and texture of the building exterior was kept as close as possible to the banyan tree, which gives the entire space a sense of uniform cohesion. 

The interior

"Since we chose a dark wooden texture for the exterior facade, soft and subtle colours like white and grey were chosen for the interior's colour scheme," elaborated architect Moniruzzaman.

The contrast of the interior colour scheme from the exterior aligns with the structure's theme. The hues of white and pastel green are soothing to the eyes and brighten up the space. Floors, shelves, and baskets for the display of the organic products have a light wooden texture and the shelves themselves are made of wood and metal frames.

To add to the soothing effect, warm ambient lights have been used throughout the display and sales centre. The climate controlled interior helps maintain a relaxed atmosphere for customers and also doubles as a way to keep the products fresh. However, the outlet does not have a sitting area. Customers will have to walk around the store and purchase the organic products.

The city display and sales centre of the Paramount Agro is designed on a 334.5 sq metres plot. The main structure is designed on 95 sq metres with a green area of approximately 120 sq metres.

"The challenge in designing the outlet of the Paramount Agro was the small area. We had to keep enough space behind the main structure for processing of the products," explained architect Moniruzzaman.

Time was another constraint for Studio Dhaka Ltd in designing the outlet. "We completed the design and construction of the outlet within three months as per our client's requirement," said Moniruzzaman.

The overall project cost was around Tk56 lakhs. "Apart from designing and constructing the outlet, we laid the foundation and constructed a drainage system for the infrastructure," added Moniruzzaman.

The cost-effective and nature-based Natural Paramount Agro Shop makes a bold statement about using regenerative ethos in architectural design.