Undone House,Mumbai

IIID National Runner up, Residential Multi Dwelling Category, 2013
IIID Regional Runner up, Residential Multi Dwelling Category, 2013

Area – 3000 sq.ft
Location – Juhu, Mumbai
Year of completion – 2013

The first instinct upon seeing the apartment was to strip it down, to de-compartmentalise and de-condition it, wanting to reveal and express its base elements and spirit. The ambition was to create an elevated garden contrasted by a social, industrial loft space. Since the 3,000 sq. ft. flat houses only two, two thirds of it is redistributed to an open plan arrangement: Many internal partitions were gutted, including the wall defining the third bedroom, which was then converted into an adjoining study.

Most of the design decisions challenge current conventions: For instance, standard veneer doors were stripped down and turned inside out; and the entire false roofing and a number of walls were ripped out, Italian marble flooring was covered with custom made wood flooring as we conceptualised practical alternatives for these elements.

In planning it, the shell is successfully made expansive owing to the reductive use of material, but then filled with bespoke designs, giving it a distinct character of its own.