At the heart of corporate bustle and lifestyle enthusiasm, a new food court has opened its doors to the public. Striving to establish itself in the ever-growing food culture in the capital that has gained even more traction during the pandemic, The Hive, introduces six already popular franchises at Banani Road 19/A, Hungry Rooster, House of Tehari, Pimentos, Asian Express, Sugar Rush Bakery and Punjab Kitchen, under one intricately designed roof.
Fareeha Chowdhury, the owner of House of Tehari and Sugar Rush Bakery, describes the creative journey behind the naming of this new amalgamation of eateries saying, “We all gave it a lot of thought, we wanted something that will create hype while representing our voices. A hive consists of hexagonal structures, the six sides represent the six restaurants.”
Responsible for bringing together the visions of these six very different restaurants, the Architect of The Hive as well as the Founder and Principal Architect of STUDIO.O, Sudeshna S Chowdhury, shared the importance of the local element of the design process, “Everything was locally sourced.”
The accomplished Architect who enjoys bringing ideas to life with distinctive, useful and aesthetic details, noted that the formulation of the area yielded some difficulties as the layout was congested and the brick walls-imposed issues. Sudeshna stated,
“Finding a way to open up the space was key, from there onwards everything fell into place.
When you enter the first thing you spot on the right are the counters for the six food branches that The Hive offers. Going further inside once you turn left it leads to the seating area, the counters, the kitchen and the outdoor space. The outdoor component is at the end of the layout, it connects to a live kitchen. That space occupies a nice view of the roads with a privacy screen, encapsulating an urban adjacent atmosphere.”
She shared that the colour palette incorporates the colours representing all the eclectic food brands present at The Hive; fun and colourful with blues, yellows and pinks alongside a neutral palette of greys and whites, accompanied by an eye-catching logo.
“The chief aspect of this process was the collaborative element with the clients. It was a fun process, we weren’t bored for a minute and everyone was very spontaneous. While there were a few hiccups, we were able to overcome them happily.”
The Brac Architecture graduate spoke of garnering inspiration from trending elements, such as neon signs, bright colours and so on, as well as social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. Following a few themes, these elements were later given a unique personalized spin to cater to the demands of the space and the people, while retaining localized aspects.
The seating areas feature multiple abstract vibrant murals in the background, ambient illumination from rattan light shades, neon signs looped with jovial messages, comfortable leather seating and colourful hexagonal tiled flooring; a quaint detail that nods towards the recurrence of sixes in the space.
Any new venture has both its down and upturns, hence the importance of feedback in any hospitality-based business cannot be understated for future growth and betterment. With a refreshing openness and realism on the subject, Ariq Mansur, founder of Hungry Rooster and Pimentos notes, “Being able to talk among ourselves and having the same entrepreneurial frequency is our edge. If one aspect of the services we provide is not pulling the numbers we anticipated, we can always go back to the drawing board and approach it differently and, if the need arises, we will implement those changes to our brands as well.”
