9 out of every 10 rough diamonds mined in the world travel to the city of Surat in the state of Gujarat, 240 km north of Mumbai in India, to be cut and polished. The city’s diamond market, the world’s largest at around €20.22 billion (₹1.8-lakh crore) according to 2020 data, employs around 1.5 million people, half a million of them directly, in 6,000 polishing workshops. This gigantic market, as well as some 65,000 of its polishers, cutters and traders, will have a new building from November 2023 to carry out their work and transactions. It is the Surat Diamond Bourse, the largest office building in the world, ahead of the previous holder of the title, the US Pentagon.
The architecture of the huge building is the work of the Morphogenesis studio, with offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, which won the international competition for its design. The Surat Diamond Bourse consists of a succession of 9 rectangular towers in a brutalist style, arranged along a “central spine“. This central spine serves to connect the towers on each of its 15 floors. Aligned in a north-south direction according to “the direction of the prevailing wind“, its particular design channels currents through the structure and therefore reduces the building’s energy requirements for air conditioning.
With a floor area of 650,000 m2 and a cost of more than €304 million, the colossal complex will have 4,500 offices (which companies in the sector had already acquired prior to construction) ranging from a minimum of 28 m2 to a maximum of 7,000 m2 in area. A total of 131 lifts will serve these offices in the 9 towers, as well as transit between its shops, restaurants, leisure, entertainment and wellness facilities, and conference and meeting spaces.
One of the concerns of architectural firm Morphogenesis, co-founder Sonali Rastogi told CNN, was to propose a “democratic” design for the Surat Diamond Bourse complex. In other words, the overall layout of the building was to provide a “level playing field” for all occupants, whether they were large or small companies. According to Rastogi, it takes no more than 7 minutes to reach any of the offices in the building from the various entrance gates (which means that the longest distance from the latter to the former is about 600 m).
Finally, the complex has nine atriums (one per tower), with seating, fountains and gardens for the enjoyment of its users. At the same time, these atriums provide a meeting place for traders, “like public parks where, we assume,” Rastogi told CNN, “all these activities will take place”, in other words, many of their transactions. In fact, diamond trading traditionally took place informally in the bazaars and streets of Surat, without receipts or documents, with the word given as the only guarantee.
You can enjoy the construction process and other details via the link to the VIDEO channel of the Surat Diamond Bourse.
Sources: Surat Diamond Bourse, Morphogenesis, CNN, The Hindu Business Line, Diavon.
Images: Morphogenesis.
