"Most clients were international companies, so we had to build to international standards," says Sunil Koul, chief architect for DLF Commercial Developers Ltd. They mostly came "from cold countries, and want a lot of light to come in".

As Corporate Park sat on what would be the city's main thoroughfare, M.G. Road, DLF's next project, Plaza Tower, began inside. The tower's two main tenants, British Airways and Bank of America, asked for structurally different sizes, so the architects worked around it, according to Trehan. "We kept reducing the building as we went up," he says. Features such as a false pyramid on top and a rooftop swimming pool, Koul says, were added to give the building visibility and attract tenants.

The architects soon started experimenting with angular structures, since clients wanted to be quirky and iconic in an area that was relatively barren. DLF Gateway Tower, sometimes referred to as the "ship" building, or the "eye" building, was the next structure to come up.

"It was a small site, bang on the highway," says Trehan, "and virtually speaking, it was the entry to DLF." They tried out different shapes and sizes, but settled on an oval with a slanted top  "a big blob from the highway", he adds.
Architects and developers all say they've seen the original elsewhere, but can't agree on where  Germany, Malaysia, or the US. They do agree that it has big brand value.

Branding stayed an important theme in Gurgaon's development. Nestle India Ltd was one of the first companies to move its entire operations from New Delhi's Connaught Place to the city, so it wanted something a little different.

After Nestle House was built, Trehan says, development was driven by one factor: every company needed more space, and needed it fast.

"We were thinking small floor plate, because there was so much already," says Trehan, describing the next project, that Convergys Corp.'s local unit eventually leased. First 12,000 sq. ft was too big, then 24,000, then 40,000, he says. Convergys came in for a few floors, then took it all. More clients were waiting, and DLF needed shorter buildings, so they could get them done as quickly as possible.

The design of the buildings became relatively standard: "Most are absolute blocks, with unique atriums," Trehan adds.

The Ericsson building, which stands near "the ship", was the first structure to come up in the area known as Cyber City. The floor plate and number of floors asked for lent themselves to the standard box look, Trehan says, but they tried to do something a little different. "Mobiles were new in India, so we wanted a building to connote that," he says.

Concerns, developers say, have moved in a more functional direction, and clients ask more about how efficient a building is with space, and what environment-friendly features it might have, rather than the look of a building.

"Before, they would think for a year before construction," Sahel says. In a reflection of changing times and more focus on planning, "a developer might be building the first building in a complex, but already ordering for the seventh".