Tailored For Today

Architects Mitul Shah and Mehul Shah of Studio Yamini perform spatial surgery on a 60-year-old Mumbai apartment to make it more relevant to modern living.

- Rupali SebaStian

Times change. Society changes. With these come changes in the way we live our lives. And with changing lifestyles, come changing demands on spaces — especially homes, which are so inextricably linked to our lives. Such transformation was the impetus for this project, which involved the spatial realignment of a 60-year-old apartment in South Mumbai that had seen no changes from the time the owners had taken first possession of it from the builder. For the family, who reside in Vadodara, this was to become a secondary home, where they could spend moments of leisure and time catching up with friends.

The existing layout was geared towards traditional ways, with segregation of ablution spaces from sleeping areas and a strict compartmentalization between family members and cleaning staff — ways that became obsolete in a modern age. “None of the bedrooms had attached bathroom. All the bathrooms had two doors, one from inside the house and the second from outside the house,” recalls architects and siblings Mitul Shah and Mehul Shah of Vadodara-based Studio Yamini — who was commissioned this project. “The outside entrance was specially made for the cleaners. They had to come, do their job and go back the same way.”