BackOut of a 450 sq ft box
Out of a 450 sq ft box
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Sliding doors, mirrors, glass-fronted shutters, a palette of primary colours, some astute planning. It took architects Shaila and Sagar Shah, and their firm Architecture Plus, four months to transform a 450 sq. ft space into a two-room apartment in Mumbai, for a young man starting a career in law. Each project brings with it an opportunity to learn, they say, believing that it’s important to invest time in getting to know the client before starting the task. And so, lifestyles are studied, personalities and preferences figured out, and much conversation conducted, before the balance between creativity and requirement is achieved.
Photographs:
1.The living-cum-guest room. The white table in the foreground with the chess board folds up against the wall when not in use. The white leather sofa pulls out into a bed.
2. Looking into the living room from the study. Fluorescent yellow panels at one end of the study are the doors of the storage unit, customized to hold books and computer accessories. An oblong washroom block (in the centre of picture) with built-in floor-to-ceiling cupboards (the dark doors in the picture) section off and connect the study and the living room.
3.The red panelled feature wall is a multi-utility unit that holds a kitchenette complete with refrigerator and microwave, and lots of additional storage.
4.The study-cum-bedroom has a shelf embedded with tube-lights running along the length of a mirrored wall.
5. The floor-to-ceiling mirror makes the raftered passage seem to be almost double its size. Glass, back painted the same fluorescent yellow, forms the sliding doors of the storage unit.
FACT FILE
Project: Bachelor pad for young lawyer-to-be
Location: Santacruz, Mumbai
Size: 450 sq. ft (carpet area)
Principal designers: Sagar Shah and Shaila Shah
Project duration: Four months
Completed: May 2007
Material: Vitrified white tiles, hi-gloss lamination, back-painted glass, wood, mirrors, plaster of paris ceiling
Text: Anya Prabhu
Photographs: Sebastian Zachariah
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