Diageo Indian Flagship Workplace: M Moser Translates ‘Celebrating Life’ Into A Destination That Hosts Rather Than Houses

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At the center of Diageo’s Gurgaon workplace stands a helical staircase in oak and copper that does more than move people vertically across three floors and 7,700 m² of workspace. It represents the transformation at the heart of distillation: raw material refined through craft, time, and precision that defines Diageo’s spirits. Drawing from this metaphor, M Moser Associates shaped the entire project to create a workplace where people feel hosted rather than housed.

Earning AIA Hong Kong’s 2025 Honor Award for Interiors and a Sustainability Award, the project demonstrates how integration across design, environmental performance, and user well-being can establish a model for future workplaces.

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The Client Brief: Uniting a New Workforce Through Place

In 2024, Diageo envisioned an India flagship office that would bring together a largely new team while embodying the company’s ethos of “Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.” The brief called for a space that felt distinctly Indian yet expressed Diageo’s European heritage, supported diverse work modes, and delivered measurable sustainability outcomes.

The design team faced a clear set of expectations: create a destination where people feel hosted, where collaboration shapes the spatial experience, and where heritage and innovation coexist. Completed after a two-year design and construction process, the workplace prioritizes community and belonging over conventional desk ratios, allocating more than 45% of the floor area to collaboration and hospitality zones.

Key Design Strategies

The design centers on a single organizing idea: transformation. This concept guided material choices, spatial planning, and user experience across three distinct floors connected by a helical staircase in oak and copper, all key materials found in distilleries.

The staircase as vertical connector

Modeled on sinuous curves, the sculptural stair unifies all three levels and acts as a catalyst for movement and spontaneous encounters. This element doesn’t simply connect floors; it creates visual and physical continuity while symbolizing the dynamic energy of transformation that defines both the brand and the design narrative.

Hospitality-led spatial chapters

Each floor is programmed as an experience chapter with named zones such as The Bar, The Café, The Spring, The Well, and The Workshop. The Bar functions as the social heart, featuring a circular counter referencing brass Urli bowls and a lighting installation that represents the six stages of distillation. The Café offers a welcoming atmosphere anchored by recycled glassware displays, while The Spring wellness suite houses yoga, multi-faith prayer, and quiet rest spaces.

Ceilings as integrated systems

Rather than treating ceilings as service layers, the team conceived them as expressive architectural forms that integrate acoustics, lighting, air distribution, and cultural references.

Vaulted and faceted geometries inspired by distillery and warehouse architecture embed linear diffusers, track lighting, and acoustic modulation within a unified design solution.

The collaboration wing’s curved perforated metal ceiling evokes heritage while addressing comfort and sensory needs through a circular design approach.

Material palette rooted in craft and circularity

The project weaves together industrial references and Indian craft traditions through a deliberate material strategy. Reclaimed barrels, locally crafted vitrified tiles inspired by glassware silhouettes, traditional Jali screens, and Lakhori brickwork ground the space in its cultural context while supporting sustainability goals. Curved scored timber, movable metal mesh curtains, and 3D fabric acoustic finishes create a tactile experience that supports both belonging and sensory comfort.

Sustainable Design That Performs

The jury recognized the workplace’s comprehensive sustainability approach, noting that over 72% of materials were sourced within 500 km, supporting the local economy while reducing transport emissions. This local sourcing strategy extended beyond environmental performance to engage regional craft communities and reinforce Diageo’s commitment to place.

Resource efficiency and circularity

Applying the AIA Framework for Design Excellence

Viewed through the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, Diageo Gurgaon Workplace demonstrates how multiple principles reinforce one another when transformation serves as both concept and organizing structure.

The jury appreciated the project’s “compelling sculptural forms with rich textures and elegant atmosphere,” noting a “certain timelessness” in how glass motifs and traditional materials work together. This observation captures the project’s strongest dimension: Design for Integration. The central staircase, unified ceiling systems, and coordinated decisions around energy, materials, and wellness all support a single spatial and performance narrative.

Design for Well-Being is embedded in measurable indoor environmental quality, inclusive wellness amenities, and biophilic elements like timber finishes, indoor planting covering 4% of the floor area, and natural textures that support stress reduction. The Spring wellness suite, mother’s rooms, quiet pods, and low-stimulation zones address spiritual, neurodiverse, and mental health needs, creating equitable access to comfort and privacy.

Design for Resources operates through a clear circular lens that the jury recognized when awarding the project comprehensive sustainability honors. The use of recycled content, reclaimed heritage elements, and locally sourced materials positions resource efficiency as both an environmental strategy and a carrier of brand and cultural narrative.

Design for Equitable Communities appears in accessibility features that exceed code requirements, including 1,800 mm-wide corridors, step-free circulation, and fully accessible washrooms, alongside the economic impact of supporting regional craft communities through material sourcing.

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Lessons for Architecture Practice

Let narrative drive integration. Transformation as metaphor wasn’t ornamental; it organized planning, materials, systems, and user experience into a coherent whole. When concept aligns with performance, integration becomes visible rather than abstract.

• Treat ceilings as opportunities, not services. The vaulted collaboration wing ceiling shows how a single architectural element can evoke heritage, embed technology, and deliver comfort without layering additional systems or finishes.
• Support local economies through material choices. Sourcing over 72% of materials within 500 km reduced transport emissions while engaging craft communities and anchoring the workplace in its cultural context. Circularity and regional identity can work together.
• Design flexibility into core systems. Modular layouts, operable partitions, HVAC zoning, and plug-and-play AV infrastructure allow the workplace to evolve as teams and technologies shift, reducing future fit-out needs and extending the interior’s useful life.
• Make performance visible. Real-time Building Management System data and air quality displays in the café don’t just optimize operations; they build user awareness and connect occupants to the environmental story.

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A Benchmark for Brand-Driven, Sustainable Workplaces

Diageo Gurgaon Workplace shows that corporate interiors can be both culturally expressive and environmentally rigorous. By grounding design in a clear narrative, prioritizing collaboration and wellness over desk density, and embedding sustainability in material and system choices, the project establishes a reference point for how workplaces can serve people, place, and performance simultaneously.

The jury’s recognition reflects this integration. Their observation that the design demonstrates “warmth and craftsmanship” alongside “comprehensive sustainability” captures the project’s refusal to separate beauty from performance. It’s an approach that positions the workplace not as a one-time solution but as a model that can inform future environments in Diageo’s portfolio and beyond.

As companies across Asia reconsider what headquarters can be, Diageo Gurgaon Workplace offers a compelling answer:

“…a place where transformation isn’t just a concept, but a lived experience shaped by craft, community, and environmental responsibility.”

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Project Team

Design

M Moser Associates
John Sellery, FAIA (Principal)
Reema Bhandari (Project Director)
Addy Walcott (Creative Director)
Saleem Ahmed (Project Lead)

Consultants

Studio Ray Synthesis (Structural)
Light Vision India (Lighting)
Electro Consultants (MEP)
Peacock Group (Kitchen)
Noebel Ventures / Artifold (Environmental Graphics and Branding)

Main Contractor

Padam Interiors

Client

Diageo Business Services India Private Limited

Project Data

Location: Gurgaon, India
Floor Area: 7,700 m² (3 floors)
Completion: February 2025

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