A small Mumbai apartment, rich in details and style

Kaizaad Mehta Architects have scripted a narrative using a distinct colour combination and materiality in the 425-sq-ft home.

Curated by: Rupali Sebastian
Photographs: Studio Varad Anvekar; courtesy Kaizaad Mehta Architects

This 425-sq-ft studio apartment in suburban Mumbai uses the magic of white and greys along with raw wood to create a spacious, welcoming abode. Additionally, olive green and champagne pink marry in perfect harmony, while still maintaining enough of a tension to create a visual buzz. The soft and bright balance this combination brings to a space is viewed evenly through the entirety of the apartment.

The floor plan, which has remained unchanged, features a linear living room with a tiny pocket serving as an open kitchen, adjacent to a compact entrance foyer; a compact bedroom; and two bathrooms. The generous balcony space and a dry area were out of the design scope owing to a tight budget and timeline. “As almost all the walls of the apartment are concrete, there was no scope of changing the wall layout or disturbing the sleeves for plumbing and electrical conduits,” says Kaizaad Mehta whose eponymous studio designed the project.

Fluted wooden panels flank the entrance foyer as a necessary yet elegant statement. Embracing the vocabulary of arches and curves, a standalone mirror adds depth to the foyer and kitchen area. The seating arrangement of the living room is bifurcated into two segments by a backless sofa for a lounge effect. The sombre effect of the dominant muted grey upholstery is broken by a few accent chairs in a soft bluish hue. Traditional mouldings and panelled walls along with a fluted stepped false ceiling and matt black fixtures create the necessary drama.

The kitchen and living are segregated by an arched panelling coloured pink, allowing the spaces to merge yet stand out in their own right. Colours are used evenly throughout, starting with an olive-green kitchen with a white spotted countertop and backsplash and a matching main door. Matt black accessories and handles stand out in this framed kitchen/entryway. The breakfast counter is treated as a part of the kitchen scheme to help extend the marriage of pink and green into the boundaries of the living room. The pink archway dividing the kitchen and living extends through the length of the living room and into the bedroom. A sliding pocket door concealed behind the TV wall cuts off the private zone from this one. The guest bathroom door and the adjacent wardrobe is flushed with the arched wall and treated in white spray paint. The symmetrical handle-less design of the doors allows them to blend into the living room ensemble. A strong, single tone of wooden polish gives singularity to the apartment.

With the intent of creating cosiness, the bedroom uses the same wooden panels and a soft blue fabric. The pink wall that extends into this space is packed with a flushed wardrobe and bathroom doors in the same fashion as the living room. Warm cove lighting gives depth to the wooden panelling, focusing on its rawness. The modestly sized bathrooms are designed vertically to feel both taller and more streamlined. A tight palette of black, white and muted tones prevents them from feeling cluttered.