Veronica’s

Hunger Inc.

Bandra, Mumbai

2023

Built Up : 700 sq ft

You enter Veronica’s aware that the building has lived many lives.

An old bakery in Ranwar Village, the structure carries visible evidence of time—its original shell overlaid with decades of urban interventions, adaptations, and everyday use. These histories are not just physical but social: the building has long belonged to the neighbourhood, functioning as a place of daily offering, exchange, and familiarity.

The design begins by acknowledging this layered life—retaining, revealing, and reactivating it—so the building can once again belong to the community.

Design Intent

The brief was to create a neighbourhood spot—an honest, informal place for the many lives of Bombay to intersect. A space where people could hang out, work, meet friends, hold informal meetings, and always know they would find solid, good food.

Rather than impose a new identity, the project curates the building’s past and present into a renewed purpose—making the space accessible again, relevant again, and deeply rooted in everyday use.

Building as a Living Entity

The building was approached almost as a living being—weathered, resilient, and marked by experience. The intention was never to erase these marks. Walls were opened up to expose layers of plaster, paint, and time, allowing the building’s memory to remain legible.

At the same time, the structure needed to be rebuilt—to give it a renewed body. This meant carefully inserting new structural elements, rebuilding the roof entirely, and using that intervention as an opportunity to bring in natural light, ventilation, and a stronger connection to the outside. The rear of the building was opened up to create a social edge—transforming what was once a back-of-house zone into a shared gathering space.

Street-level interventions accumulated over time were studied closely. The historic street art referencing the bakery’s earlier identity was carefully restored—surgically reconstructed to preserve the story embedded in the neighbourhood’s collective memory.

Space, Use & Community

The plan is deliberately open and flexible.

A compact enclosed kitchen anchors the space, while its outer walls function as communication surfaces—like a physical notice board where events, posters, and community messages can be pinned. Shelving holds books, music, and products, constantly shifting as the space evolves.

At the centre is the long yellow-tiled sandwich counter, extending directly from the kitchen—a shared threshold where food is prepared, served, and exchanged. The barista and coffee station sit alongside, making this the energetic heart of the space.

Large communal tables allow for gatherings and shared meals, while lighter timber tables and chairs can be rearranged freely. Seating spills toward the rear, creating quieter zones to pause, sit back, or simply be.

A small tribute window recalls the figure of the neighbourhood baker—not just a maker of food, but a quiet confidant, advisor, and emotional constant in daily life. This gesture anchors the space in something deeply human.

Atmosphere

Veronica’s is intentionally raw and unpolished—honest about food, space, and use. It brings people together around everyday rituals, allowing the building to once again serve its original role: offering nourishment, connection, and belonging

A bakery reborn; designed to once again feed its neighbourhood

Veronica’s

Hunger Inc.

Bandra, Mumbai

2023

Built Up : 700 sq ft

AT A GLANCE

10,000

meals a month

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Conceptualized as a labyrinth the form has an underpinning geometry that emerges from the center. The brick skin swells to envelope this frame.

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A lyrical home that is a construct of craft, culture, narrative and joy. Spaces of this writer’s home are organized to connect and reconnect like a labyrinth. Creating the curiosity of the beyond and the feeling of an infinitive journey. Multiple staircases and a lift, connect the house  in a way that evokes discovery.

“The first time I visited the apartment, I ended up spending an hour or two walking around the place. Just when the sun set, this incredible rosy light invaded the space, casting everything it touched in a pink haloed glow,” says Singh. “And yet, this beautiful light had nowhere to go; it was contained by the walls of the two rooms on either side of the living space, shrouding the rest of the apartment, which was a shame. I knew, then, that the first step of my design process would be to open the space up, so it could engage with the intense aura of the sunset. The notation is based on the principle of bipolarity, representing truth.

On a closer look, geometry—especially the circle—is revealed as a recurring theme. “The [circle] returns throughout the apartment, in perimeters and in details,” says Singh. “Having completely revised the layout, I asked myself: how do I create the sensation of ‘feeling at home’? To translate the notions of warmth and security, I used the shape of a circle, which collects within itself but does not close, does not isolate.” The circles, peppered across the apartment, are not always obvious; they hide, and linger, until they suddenly erupt into view. And yet, the circle is ubiquitous: in the library, it pops up in the sculptural lamp by Michael Anastassiades for Flos; hides in plain sight in the backrest of the living room’s ‘Pipe’ armchairs by Moroso; and reappears in the delicate crown moulding across the apartment. It is both realized and implied; the Marmara marble flooring in the master bathroom traces an unmissable arc, while the black and white dome on the cc-tapis rug finds its other half only when the custom-designed semicircle table by Singh is placed next to it, adjusted to the perfect angle.

In this evolving canvas—that shifts and morphs along with the lives that it contains within the walls—the only constant is the streaking light that filters through the veranda. Here, the rose-tinted light is the conductor; the rest, mere musicians, dancing to its tune.