A Rejuvenating Experience

Maintaining a steadfast fidelity to the intrinsic quality of space, Atelier Design N Domain rejuvenate a Gothic/Art Deco apartment by reviving existing elements and sensitively adding others — to create a home that is geared to cater to the demands of modern living.

- Rupali Sebastian

In a design firm’s journey, when everything is smooth sailing, and it seems to have found a groove, there comes a project that makes them sit back, think and create something that’s a little different than what they normally do. For Mumbai-based Atelier Design N Domain (ADnD), that project is what they call The Renaissance Residence. “It rocked the boat for us,” says architect and co-founder Shobhan Kothari. “So far we’ve done work that is contemporary, bordering on the minimal. This one made us reinvent ourselves.”

The reason for this was the site itself: an apartment in a wonderful Gothic/Art Deco building in Mumbai. “As an architect, the innate need to create a space out of nothing is extremely satisfying. Working out of an urban fabric, rarely do projects with intrinsic quality of space reveal themselves,” says architect Anand Menon, the other pillar at ADnD. The elevated entrance from the road leading to a mosaic-floored corridor flanked by a wooden staircase; a carriage lift that led to the 3,400-square-foot apartment… it was love at first sight. And then, there were more treasures in the apartment itself, more vintage mosaic, gorgeous stained-glass windows and expansive rooms. “We were excited from the moment we entered,” exults Shobhan.