SquareWorks revamped the charming 1930s Art Deco Apartment, No.7 Southlands in Mumbai, creating dynamic and multifunctional spaces while preserving its heritage attributes. The interior now caters to a residential workspace and studio shared by multiple artists, with the designers taking a conscious approach to maintaining original features that also cater to modern demands.

“The project intends to celebrate the inherent quintessence of a sangfroid ‘Bombay-ish’ precedent with distinct incorporation of consciously designed alterations,” explain SquareWorks.

Emphasis is placed on contrasting static vs dynamic elements. The interior is rearrange-able and playful as opposed to housing beds and storage that portray permanence and stillness. The dining hall converts into a gallery or exhibition space in case of an event, such as an artist’s display or a collaborative exhibition. Terrazzo tiles in mottled shades of blue and green, abundant indoor plants and timber cabinetry and doorframes against fresh white walls accentuate a colonial aesthetic.

To maintain a sense of ambiguity throughout the interior, SquareWorks were guided by broad design concepts that ensured an open and versatile feel. These include transparency, minimizing solid divides between rooms; natural light and ventilation, ensuring flow from one space to the next; inherent materiality, avoiding any cladding, painting or surface treatment; an inward-looking organization of space, preserving existing surfaces; simplicity, making optimal use of existing spatial elements.

“All in all, as an assemblage of users and activities, it epitomizes an equilibrium between the paradoxical entities such as ‘personal – professional’, ‘single-multi’, ‘private-public’ and ‘old-new’,” conclude SquareWorks.

[Photography by Fabien Charuau.]