Brief The owners of this space are a family of four. The husband is a founder of a closed fund and wife a PHD scholar ably assists him in his venture. The couple have two grown up kids doing their advanced studies in foreign countries. The core requirement of this family was to have a clutter free cosy space with emphasis given on functional planning and at the same time a breakaway aesthetic. Also due to their social nature/status they wanted a space that was inclusive and could serve as a perfect entertainment pad.
Vision As it stood, we had worked extensively with the couple previously due to which there was that comfort and mutual understanding from the get go. Throughout the designing process there was a certain trust that the clients had put in us as they had seen our work over the years and were familiar with the peculiar way we look at things related to interior designing. Wanting to create that unique aesthetic experience we looked towards architecture for inspiration. After a few initial discussions the idea of architectural vaults fascinated us. Thus we decided to use it as a primary element as a part of the ceiling and be consistent with its exploitation throughout the space lending it more authenticity. Along with that elements like gabion wall, solid glass bricks, Ceppo De Gre stone shared this very architectural intent. On the other hand we wanted to be pretty miserly and minimalistic with our material palate. This gave rise to a monochromatic space. So as an end result we wished for, and worked towards a space that was niche, minimalistic and social.
Apartment size + Way the structure was handled This apartment is nestled in the central suburb of Mumbai, with a carpet area of 4300sft. Our scope was to design the apartment from the bare shell status to its completion. The bigger chunk of existing planning was maintained however changes were made to open up certain spaces of importance. The master walk-in wardrobe was increased in size along with bathroom space. This increase in area was accommodated in the adjoining bedroom which was converted into a study. In the living room space an alcove was created to accommodate a decently sized fully serviced bar along with the main entrance lobby. This resultant increase in space spilled over into the kitchen prompting a complete replanning of it along with the servant quarters. Throughout the apartment smaller shifts of walls and partitions were planned to increase efficiency of the given space.
Key features In continuation to the architectural theme, the bar was imagined as part of this huge black scoop that started at the main entrance of the house and stretched till the entrance to the kitchen. The materiality of this scoop was black ceramic floor, black PU coated walls and ceiling. The bar itself was conceptualised as a part of Gabion wall for its facia wall. This was made possible by trapping randomly sized stones in the metal wire meshes. In addition to that this arrangement can be backlit by a series of LED lights mounted on an acrylic partition supporting this very vertical mass of stones. Flanking this bar, opposite the main entrance, there is a partition of frosted glass bricks. This partition creates this interplay between the bar and main entrance. The refractive quality of this glass lightens up this otherwise intense space.
Overall theme As mentioned earlier the primary theme of the house was based on its architectural interpretation. So the idea of subdivided Vaults, Gabion wall, solid glass bricks, black scoop, Ceppo De Gre stone with rugged finishes, Cementaceous lime plaster helped realise an expected outcome to the process.
Challenges When designing an offbeat space there come plethora of challenges on the way to deal with. First of them was the construction of Vaults. Even though a representation on the original form this had to be dealt with creative solutions. Also the integrated lighting within the vaults without disturbing their purity posed a challenge. The formation of vaults was achieved by creating an archical template to lend its shape. And the integrated lighting was a result of a linear aluminium channel (that acted as a lighting track) which was supported by wooden framework around the vaults themselves.
Another challenge came to us in the form of planning. The original layout had 5 bedrooms. The client brief expected us to create 4 bedrooms along with a study. Carving out study, its adjoining washroom and a large master bathroom along with a walk -in wardrobe in a singular space was tricky.. especially dealing with its services like HVAC, plumbing etc.
In the master bedroom the TV positioning overlapped with the window location. Also two extended niches on either side of the window (which were used as a built in study and an extended storage box) posed a challenge in terms of its end use and overall space formation of the bedroom. This issue was solved by having moving walls on sliding tracks. One of the moving walls had a TV travelling along with it. All of them together created a permutation-combination of various scenarios of use/utility depending on where you positioned them.
Master bedroom has a long installation of solid glass bricks behind the four poster bed. This translucent mass of bricks gets backlit. The installation wasn’t as much of a construction challenge as upkeep of LED lights which backlit the wall due to its length. This was solved by creating sliding tracks which accommodated the linear LEDs in them which could allow us to pull them out seamlessly at the time of maintenance.
Design Philosophy Our design philosophy has always been ‘call it for what it is. When we think of a space we think of it as a volume and not in fragments. It is very hard to call which part/aspect of the apartment signifies our signature style as we don’t work with a particular style. In most of the cases we try to respond to the space and context if any. Working with a bigger idea and chopping it down to a micro level for the consistency in design throughout the space satisfies our design philosophy.
Sustainability Sustainability automatically becomes part of this apartment due to the architectural intent. Glass Bricks, Lime plaster, various stones and granites, all are sustainable in nature. Text description by the architects.
