TVS Design Announces Completion of Iconic Mumbai Landmark: Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre

May 19, 2023 at 03:23 AM EDT

Marks most ambitious project to date for Atlanta-based firm

Atlanta, Georgia May 19, 2023 (Issuewire.com) - TVS Design today announced its completion of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), India's new landmark to showcase the best of music, theatre, and fine arts from India and from artists around the world. TVS served as the principal architect and interior designer of both the sprawling cultural center and the larger Jio World Centre, an 18.5-acre next-level, world-class business, commerce, and cultural destination which has been opening in phases since 2022. Photo library link.

Located in the vibrant business and cultural hub of Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, India, the NMACC is a design wonder - a first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary cultural arts center conceived as the crowning jewel within its larger multi-use development. Envisioned by Smt. Nita M. Ambani aims to preserve and promote India's rich art, culture, and heritage through varied forms.

"TVS is privileged to have been on this journey with Smt. Nita Ambani to design a truly international facility grounded in Indian character and detail," said TVS Principal Steve Clem, FAIA, IIDA, ASID. "This project first began many years ago, and the evolution of the concept and design, combined with the global reach of materials and partners to make our collective vision a reality, has been extraordinary."

"Creating a new, 21st century Gateway of India was no small task," said Rajmal Nahar, President - Real Estate Projects at Reliance Industries Limited. "TVS understood the cultural themes we wanted to celebrate and was able to beautifully translate that into every detail of their designs, setting the new standard for not only India, but the world."

Cultural Centre Venues

NMACC has three dedicated, state-of-the-art spaces for performing arts to accommodate a host of programming that's as diverse as the Indian culture. Spread over three floors, the curation of shows ensures that these venues become landmark destinations for India.

2,000-seat Grand Theatre modeled after the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, featuring a Bespoke Swarovski crystal ceiling and 18 exclusive Diamond Boxes with private lounges and dedicated food and beverage services
250-seat Studio Theatre, featuring a telescopic seating system for easy transformation and artistic flexibility, as well as a tension wire grid (the first in India) to simplify lighting and rigging during production
125-seat Cube featuring a moveable stage and seating

Each space is equipped with cutting-edge technology to cater to a wide range of experiences, from intimate screenings, educational initiatives, and comedy shows to multilingual programming and international theatrical productions.

A dedicated four-story visual arts space, the Art House, was also designed to house a shifting array of public art exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world to reinforce the philosophy of "art for all."

Complimenting the artistically rich spaces is a dining experience that includes a concession area, an Arts Café, a brand-new restaurant by the Oberoi group, and one of India's most awarded restaurants, Indian Accent.

Jio World Convention Centre

Also designed by TVS was the adjacent Jio World Convention Center, India's foremost venue for best-in-class exhibitions, conventions, meetings, and social events backed by the most cutting-edge technologies. The 1.1+ million sf facility features the following:

3 modular exhibition halls spanning 161,460 sf, accommodating 16,500+ guests
2 modular convention halls totaling 107,640 sf, accommodating 10,640+ guests
Majestic 32,290 sf ballroom, accommodating 3,200+ guests
25 meeting rooms with a total area of 29,062 sf
139,930 sf of pre-function concourse space across all the levels
Hybrid and digital experiences enabled by 5G network
Largest kitchen capacity with the ability to cater to over 18,000 meals per day
India's largest on-site parking in a convention center with a capacity of 5,000 cars

The Design

The design goal was to make arts and culture accessible to all audiences from across the globe, and the vision included providing education, breaking down barriers, and supporting, preserving, and nurturing traditional Indian arts and crafts, lending it a global stage. Drawing on India's rich and varied traditions and symbolism, the cultural center makes a unique design statement and marks another definitive step in strengthening India's cultural infrastructure and reinforcing the country as a cultural capital of the world.

The NMACC and public spaces of the connected Jio World Convention Centre showcase the international significance of Indian design, pattern, and texture. The interior design of the entire development, composed of the cultural center, convention center, offices, retail and residential, was conceived by the design team to resemble a traditional Indian necklace. Each component represents a beautifully detailed jeweled element, with the theatre being the jewel pendant. All program elements were designed to flow with material and detail continuity to unify the project.

The primary inspiration for the design vocabulary is India's national flower, the lotus, representing spirituality, knowledge, and illumination. This element was woven throughout the project in refined and elegant ways as a nod to India's vibrant heritage. The lotus-inspired Fountain of Joy offers captivating fountain performances combining water, light, and sound, and a multi-colored, illuminated trellis canopy on the exterior makes a striking statement with overlapping metal lotus petals soaring over the entry. It's included as an overlay piece on the Art House and in the floor patterns throughout the project as well.

The three-story lobby features the grand sivec white marble and honey onyx staircase. The stair cantilevers form an 80-foot, curved wall clad with cast gold colored glass tiles and a shimmering waterbody that glimmers with mosaic Sicis tiles in gold, teal, and burnished russet hues. A second grand wall clad with cast GRG accented with Swarovski crystals creates a stunning sense of arrival to the Grand Theatre.

Grand Theatre

The overall design of the Theatre and all its intricate layers celebrates the luxurious level of craft and design that reflects the richness of color, detail, and pattern of India, making this a singular world experience.

The theatre was designed in collaboration with Theatre Project Consultants to help establish the technical profile of the space. The overall compositional design was developed by TVS, and features an amazing collection of elements, purposefully selected from expert craftsmen around the world:

Exquisite jewel-toned Sicis mosaic tiles - Italy
Customized laser-cut meta jaali screens - Dubai
Acoustic micro-perforated walnut wood with the ability to absorb sound - Greece
Handrails, door frames, and millwork - Muscat
Custom-colored fabric - Germany
Custom wall coverings - Belgium
Walnut-clad seating - Italy

The crown jewel of this glittering space is the bespoke ceiling that engages the entirety of the theatre hall and conceals all the technical catwalks and theatrical lighting. Custom-built in Austria, 17 lotus petals with an arabesque perforated pattern studded with 8,400 Swarovski crystals that are individually programmable and illuminated transform this remarkable ceiling into a theatrical performance element by itself. Its ability to change color and pattern, integrated into theatre events, is unique in the world.

Studio and Cube Theatres

These spaces are more subtle and subdued than the main theatre, but designed with the same element of warmth. Both are the backbone of NMACC, providing special performances of very intimate, small-scale works.

Jio World Convention Centre

The design vocabulary was carried through the convention centre spaces as well. The overall ceiling of the Banquet Hall, representative of a flowing abstract river, is adorned in golden patterned jalis and three custom-made chandeliers in the shape of a lotus flower. Each is made of Swarovski crystal and plated gold. Each crystal was hand-selected for shape and color, and each petal has a patterned design that highlights Indian culture.

All patterns, profiles, and detailed development of features were created by TVS.

"The level of design, detail and craftsmanship, technology, lighting, materials, art integration, and facility care will make this one of the premier venues - and destinations - in the world," adds Clem. "It's a gift to Mumbai. An iconic building that is unique to India and would not fit anywhere else in the world."

ABOUT TVS
TVS is an award-winning architecture and interior design firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA with global project expertise. Its team of experts listens intently, solves creatively, and delivers reliably to make remarkable design easy. TVS' roundtable operating approach engages honed perspectives across workplace interiors and corporate offices, hospitality, cultural arts, convention center, mixed-use, sports, education, retail, healthcare, and multifamily residential to deliver design solutions that meet the complex challenges of the 21st century. This multi-disciplinary, multi-market diversity equips the firm's architects, designers, and strategists with a unique ecosystem of ideas and resources that best support a client's vision.

Founded in 1968, the 100% employee-owned firm has offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Tampa. Having worked in 28 countries and 46 states, districts, and territories within the United States, TVS creates high-performance, high-impact environments that help individuals, businesses, and communities thrive around the world. For more information, visit TVS or join the conversation @tvsdesign.

ABOUT THE NITA MUKESH AMBANI CULTURAL CENTRE

The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre is a first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary space in the sphere of arts, within the Jio World Centre, located in the heart of Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex.

The Cultural Centre is home to three performing arts spaces: the majestic 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seat Studio Theatre, and the dynamic 125-seat Cube. It also features the Art House, a four-story dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standards with the aim of housing a shifting array of exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world.

Spread across the Centre's concourses is a captivating mix of public art by renowned Indian and global artists, including 'Kamal Kunj' - one of the largest Pichwai paintings in India. For more information, visit NMACC.

ABOUT JIO WORLD CENTRE

Jio World Centre is a first-of-its-kind global destination in the heart of Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex. Envisioned by Smt. Nita M. Ambani, the multifaceted, mixed-use 18.5 acre is an iconic business, commerce, and cultural destination. It houses the recently opened Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, the musical Fountain of Joy, an upscale retail experience, a curated selection of cafés and fine dining restaurants, serviced apartments and offices, and India's largest convention facility - the 1.1 million sf Jio World Convention Centre. Jio World Centre has been developed with an international design vocabulary, while honoring the culture and spirit of India. The Centre is a part of Reliance Industries, a Fortune 500 company, and India's largest private sector enterprise. For more information, visit Jio World Centre.

ABOUT RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED (RIL)
Reliance is India's largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of INR 539,238 crore ($73.8 billion), cash profit of INR 79,828 crore ($10.9 billion), and net profit of INR 53,739 crore ($7.4 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2021. Reliance's activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail, and digital services. Reliance is the top-most ranked company from India to feature in Fortune's Global 500 list of "World's Largest Companies". The company stands 55th in the Forbes Global 2000 rankings of "World's Largest Public Companies" for 2021 - top-most among Indian companies. It features among LinkedIn's 'The Best Companies to Work for In India' (2021).