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The client and studio Saransh’s mutual admiration for durable materials that possess timeless beauty was instrumental in the design of the MAD apartment in Ahmedabad.
Curated by: Deepa Nair
Photographs: Ishita Sitwala; courtesy Saransh
The site
The MAD apartment — designed by studio Saransh — is set on the ground floor of a two storied building in Ahmedabad. The apartments were originally built in 2006 as one continuous building around a large garden free of any vehicles, giving residents the luxury of large verandahs facing the garden. The existing house consisted of four bedrooms, a large living and dining area and a kitchen. The structure and the plan of the house was neat and simple with generous 11-feet high ceilings. As the kitchen and two out of the four bathrooms were recently refurbished, they were not part of the given scope of work.
The brief
The family consists of four members with their own unique personalities and aspirations. The design exercise for the architects was to reimagine a contemporary apartment using earthy, natural materials to conceive unique micro atmospheres for each family member.
The design intent
The design tries to explore the idea of using textures, tones and the sense of touch as tools in the process of creating spaces that are inviting, warm, cosy, simple and sensible. From the existing architectural envelope to the interiors and objects within the space, the design caters to specific needs as well as the aesthetic experience of space as per every member’s aspirations.
The civil intervention
As the architectural plan of the existing apartment was pretty neat and met the programmatic requirements, there were not many major civil interventions made. Although, positioning of doors to the bedrooms was altered to make them more space efficient. The dining space was extended towards the north to make space for a small library.
The design and material details
Each material, tone and element has been thoughtfully chosen to conceive an earthy palette with sensorial qualities to inspire slow living. All the common areas including living and dining spaces are finished with grey granite flooring which is also used as an element to define clean architectural lines within the space. Tall, cloudy textured walls finished in lime are used to bring warmth and lightness to overall spaces. In contrast to this, the play of shadow within the spaces is exaggerated by using dark wood in an otherwise warm and muted palette. Bedrooms floors have been finished using Indian cement tiles to bring in saturated colours for its users. Lastly, the meticulously curated landscape around the verandah makes a peaceful setting and framework for an outdoor living area.
The highlight
The huge spherical light becomes a very important element of the large dining and living area volume as it was perceived as a piece of art, a planet-like glowing sphere floating in the space.
The challenges
As the existing apartment came with high volumes, the clients did not want any design interventions that would reduce that and hence the electricals, HVAC and other services had to be thought of keeping that in mind. Because the space had to be imagined using natural materials, all the existing flooring, cement plaster, etc had to be removed and the apartment had to be brought to its bare skeleton in order to achieve the intended finishes.
Fact file
Project: MAD Apartment
Clients: Minal Desai and Abhishek Desai
Location: Ahmedabad
Area: 2,098 sq ft
Principal architect: Mansi Mistry
Design team: Meet Vaidya and Kashish Shah
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AhmedabadBespoke homecontemporary homedeepa nairEarthy Materialsindia design worldInterior designIshita SitwalaModern HomePhotographySaranshSlow LivingStudio SaranshVerandahs
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