SEA-RIOUS SERENDIPITY

Within a tempting tussle of daylight, shadows, sea views and hues of wood, a sentiment of longing captures you at this Mumbai duplex imagined by Mangesh Lungare

- PRATISHTHA RANA

A mammoth bed of the Arabian Sea sparkles as the glinting sun rays hit the fluid water. While the rows of skyscrapers wrestle for attention with the endless skyline, a flock of cars dance on a certain highway, skirted with the famous racecourse and windborne scenes of helicopters flying in and out at the helipad in distance. This and sundry more views are afforded like a scene right out of a movie, from the window (read: the grand balcony) of the magnificent duplex in the southern stretch of Mumbai.

The director and the writer of this absorbing script that shaped into the first home for a family native to Rajasthan, is Mangesh Lungare, an interior and architectural designer whose only canvas of choice for every project he undertakes is a certain newness not realised before. This 3,000 sq ft residence shifts the spotlight from the standard debate of functionality and habitability to how thoughtful design possibly holds the ultimate dominion in living that ideal, elevated lifestyle. Roosted up on the 40th floor, levelling up with the tall buildings in the neighbourhood, the duplex right from the clucking open of its doors, unwraps into a narrative of ‘wows’ and surprises – something I like to call as the labyrinth of perceptive designs witnessed at every step of the way. Commingling with a clean palette of stone, marble and wood, a mood-indulging burst of soft colours splatters across the house. Parallely the unleashing drama of sunlight blankets the walls and dances on the floors of the space.