The Design Source | June - July 2007

Pushkar, Shoaib & Neha have that rare talent, which is a boon in metros like Mumbai, where every square inch of space burns huge holes in the pocket. They, characteristically, use very unconventional ways to convert small apartments into comfortable interiors. Here is a delightfully successful endeavour of theirs, of an apartment located at Vakola, Santacruz East in Mumbai, in a posh neighbourhood, abutting the Grand Hayatt, which shows its uniqueness in all aspect of design, ranging from the treatment to the volume, cost factors, maintenance ease and speed of execution-

The neat open kitchen has its space demarcated by the overhead beam, which is reflected in the flooring pattern, allowing it its exclusivity at the same time. The beautiful artist’s rendition of Christ is a great blend of tradition and lifestyles.

Let us start with an introduction of the client from the designers. “The client, Mr. Ivan Bayross runs a software solutions company in Mumbai. He has recently shifted into this new apartment designed by us with his wife and teenage daughter. The family is partying sorts where friends come over on weekends. The couple is very outgoing with their design ideas.”

This in itself can be a huge challenge to an average designer. While ample space goes well with a larger than life style, the confines of a modest apartment can be quite a dampener on lifestyles pivoted around entertainment and socializing. Besides, the Bayrosses love to have houseguests, who are over as frequently as every weekend. How did this design team get around this problem?

“The client wanted to convert this small 2-bedroom apartment into a studio apartment kind of a place with an open plan between the living, kitchen and dining areas to give a wide open feel. The basic idea was to have a modern and low-maintenance home large enough for house parties.”

While this is the most astute way of dealing with a space crunch, the idea of an open, studio apartment type of layout does not go down well with the average Indian family, which prefer to separate its public areas from its private areas like the kitchen. But a good designer plays his part in the convincing-

“A few different layouts were worked upon by arranging various areas like living, kitchen and dining in different configurations. Then the most suitable one was selected considering a few factors like ease of movement, light, ventilation and positioning of furniture items. The open plan was the inevitable choice since it gave a large area for free movement.”

However, a layout of this kind, which involves the opening up of the internal shell can result in a structural disaster since this plan is not envisioned in the initial construction. And the electrical, plumbing etc are not necessarily in keeping with the new requirement. Say the designers, “Yes a few civil changes like removing the walls followed by the plumbing and electrical changes were required to be done.”

But the most striking thing about this interior, beside its open plan, is the high styled taste in the furniture details, material used for the execution and choice of colours, which are bold but not garish and subtle but not subdued. The designers have this to say about the processes that lead to this finished outcome-

“We were careful in our selection of material used. They are totally non-maintenance like laminates, ceramic and vitrified tiles, steel tiles, brushed aluminium laminates, glass etc.

The colours too have been purposefully selected. For example, in the kitchen areas they are very neutral-something which has kind of a universal appeal. While the bedrooms are more colourful with cobalt blue for the master bedroom and orange –red for the daughter’s bedroom.”

And the furniture has seen no less thought process and detail in its execution. As explained by them,”Most of the furniture is custom-made including the bedroom furniture and kitchen cabinets. Some furniture like the TV console, dining table and sofas were bought-out since the completion of the entire project was set to be within 30 days.

Each custom-made piece of furniture is designed taking into account the clients functional requirements like amount of storage space required, the stuff that is going to go into it, the ease of use etc. And then the aesthetic aspects are taken care of like the finish material, the colour and other external detailing.”

Then there is also the scrutiny given to the lighting throughout the home- this alone can make or break the desired effect in an interior. All in all, it is entirely true that this young team of designers, using their expertise at converting small spaces to accommodate large lifestyles, have pulled together another commendable interior.