Poetic Illusion

In Rajkot, a dwelling in an affordable housing complex is breaking stereotypes about small homes and how! Principal architects Shivraj Patel and Shruti Malani of Intrinsic Designs seem to don the hats of both designer and magician as they make a 645-square-foot 2.5BHK apartment look surprisingly spacious and equally gorgeous.

- Carol Ferrao

Sometimes a brief can be so challenging that the designer has to double up as a magician to make the impossible possible. Transforming a compact house into an airy, breathable home is a skill few possess, and Shivraj Patel and Shruti Malani, principal architects of Intrinsic Designs, sure have perfected that art. A testimony to their skills is when a long-time client gave them a two-fold challenge — make a 645-square-foot, 2.5BHK flat in an affordable housing complex look spacious and alluring enough to attract others to choose the development over the 2,000 other apartments in the surrounding five-kilometre radius of the site.

It was a big plus that the duo were also architects of this housing project, and knew the space — both it's limitations and potential — well. “Whenever designing any architectural project, we keep the interiors and possible furniture layouts strong right from day one, which makes it easier later on while designing the interiors for the same,” note Shivraj and Shruti who run their boutique practice in Anand, Ahmedabad and Rajkot. Their work is characterized by the “simple yet bold language of stark minimalism and an amalgamation of architecture, art and design.”