4 : 1
A design project with a brief that suggests “ less to more”. A 500 sqft plot was meant to house 6 people, with restrictions on height and budgetery constraints whilst increasing their standard of living. A quintessential matchbox home with boiling dreams and aspirations of the family. The city of mumbai houses dreams per squarefeet.
The project took the approach of exploring light to increase the perception of space alongwith flexible partitions to divide space for optimal use. The furniture was modular and made to save space whilst providing maximum utility
Location
Undisclosed
Area
50 sqm
Collaborator
Ar. Aditya Mandlik & Ar. Palak Babel
Set amidst the tiny alleys of a humble urban village. The winding streets are posed with people and shops, an evidently densely populated neighbourhood that invites you deeper into it where we find our handkerchief sized plot of 500sqft. The site is flanked by an inward curving lane leading to the tiny settlements set deeper inside the village and neighbouring homes snuggly hugging it. The project has still not reached its challenge, which was a space to house
a family of 5 that required privacy at the same time a joint regrouping space with an equal distribution of spaces, storage,utilities etc. The layout saw opportunities within the limitation of the rectangular footprint. A bedroom with a double occupancy and ample storage with an attached bathroom was placed at one extreme end, while the other end had a similar spatial arrangement which left the central space as the common area. The entry into the house was through the central space that doubled as a living area as well as a kitchen. A snug staircase at one end of the kitchen led to two sections of a loft with enough space to accommodate a 2 people bed each. Having only the lane side wall with openings, we took advantage of it being a single structure and provided a skylight in the central living space. This changed the perception of a 500sqft home having so many fragments. The light leaked into the private spaces equally whilst maintaining the decorum of their privacy.
