House of Circles Mumbai

A Mumbai apartment built during the 1970s is overlaid with a new spatial intervention by The Act of Quad. The studio insists on designing to revive these old urban apartments suitable for the 21st century allowing the users to refrain from buying into the mass urban footprint which impacts our cities.

This 1900 square feet home is comprised of two adjacent apartments. These two urban apartments have been subdivided and reshaped over the years through renovations leaving behind spaces with odd proportions and limited functionality for the family. Thus, by entirely flipping the original floor plan, the studio’s interventions were bold and deliberate. Swapping the living room and main bedroom were key moves in curating the home’s relationship to the city beyond. Now with a stronger relationship to the kitchen, it spills out onto the semi-enclosed dining room. According to the family’s requirement the apartment was integrated with four bedrooms and bathrooms.

The apartment is a volumetric combination of circles and semicircles. The objective of staging the two-dimensional and three-dimensional circles or semicircles around the apartment was to generate spots of joy in minimal bleak landscapes. These are highlighted or played down meticulously which gives rise to the differing aesthetic characteristics. The geometry and the layout of the rooms have been developed in tandem. The link between the narrative, form and space allowed for a cohesive overall choreography and harmony.

At the entrance of the home, layered walls with circular cut outs in the center of the space act as a guiding element, giving a glimpse of the peculiar design of the apartment. Red travertine marble was in circular shapes and strategically inlayed with the matte tiles in the flooring. Contrast to the bleak minimal design language, hues of Apricot are injected throughout to apartment to satiate the appetite for colours of an Indian family.

The essentialist design was an amalgamation of modern retro elements which are translated through chequered flooring, arches, glass blocks etc.  along with Indian accents of “geru” (earthy red colours) toned marble, tiles and intricate chairs crafted using inherited cradles of the family. Being responsible for the design and execution of the apartment the studio paid close attention to sourcing local craftsmen, labour, and materials. While trying to strike a fine balance between alluring practical design and economic constraints, proving that sophisticated, good design does not have to break the bank.

Today as much as new properties are getting built every day, the studio thinks we need to look at the old homes with a fresh vision since good design is not only about making a small footprint work harder but is also creating a really great quality of life and a sense of luxury in a tighter space and inevitably that provides sustainable solutions for our cities.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Ishita Sitwala     YEAR: 2023