A Throwback To Art Deco

Two apartments in Mumbai were designed by MuseLAB Design Engine employing a predominant Art Deco aesthetic. It is seen that both the projects have managed to strike the perfect balance between the historical architectural approach and the requisites of a contemporary lifestyle.

- Devyani Jayakar

The Art Deco style, short for Arts Décoratifs, is characterised by rich colours, bold geometry, and meticulous details. Having reached the height of its popularity in the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, the signature aesthetic still evokes glamour, luxury, and order with symmetrical designs in exuberant shapes.

Creating separate apartments for two brothers, architects Huzefa Rangwala and Jasem Pirani zeroed in on an Art Deco aesthetic through which to interpret the brief. “The wife of one of the clients used to stay in an Art Deco building at Churchgate, so she was very comfortable with that look,” says Jasem. Consequently, both apartments are similar, yet different in their approach to the iconic style which they draw inspiration from.

The duo has dubbed one apartment “Maison Deco”– it is the more traditional of the two. “The colour palette is warm but not dark. Vitrified tile on the floor in the living room is laid in a herringbone pattern, making a subtle reference to the lounges of the Art Deco era. What would normally be loose furniture has been fixed, since the width of the room was only 8 ft 6 inches,” says Huzefa. “The clients wanted us to design a functional yet simple three-bedroom apartment.

We turned towards Art Deco to infuse the functional elements with artistic touches that are symmetrical, geometric, streamlined, often simple and pleasing to the eye.”The brief specified a formal as well as an informal living room, a kitchen, three bedrooms - which included one for the parents and another for the child - with en-suite baths and a separate powder room.