Being a part of an establishment that houses Ahmedabad’s first Escape Room, and having more than 100 board games from around the world, Unlocked is positioned as a café where people come and spend long hours to socialize with friends.

The metal-grid façade is designed as a metaphor for a cage that needs to be ‘Unlocked’. The interiors, with an emphasis on patterns and bold colours, give it a fun and playful vibe. The structure of the old building has been highlighted in the space, keeping the skin as subtle as possible. The café offers different seating options for patrons depending on their needs. Comfortable sofas and lounge chairs cater to larger groups playing board games, allowing them to sit for a longer time. The round tables offer a space for a quick coffee with the games, whereas the bigger rectangular tables are for the more serious diners. A dedicated space towards the end houses a large table for co-working, which can also double up as a meeting room. The entrance to the Escape Room is masked by an installation made out of old gears.

Details and patterns take cues from graphics derived from board games. The custom hexagon stone flooring is a combination of kotah stone, kadappa and marble, inspired from the popular board game Catan.  Reflecting the flooring pattern is the geometric light installation in the ceiling. The folding partition of the meeting room is designed as a large Scrabble board. Tetris-inspired shelves made from metal and wood, house board games and artifacts on one end of the café.  The right wall is hand-painted with a large graphic inspired from M.C. Escher’s isometric artworks, depicting the idea behind Unlocked. The geometric patterns continue in the upholstery and the cushions. The custom designed furniture also plays along the theme of the café. Rectangular checkerboard tables are inspired from the classic game boards. A puzzle-like centre table in front of the central sofa cluster opens up to become separate tables or stools. On either side, black and white chess-inspired centre tables form an interesting visual element along with the two-coloured sofas.

With its clean-lined and colourful interiors, Unlocked strives to offer a relaxing and fun environment for getting together with friends.

Location

Ahmedabad

Area

2600 sqft

Team

Varun Shah, Jeevika Bassan

Photographs

(c) Photographix