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Architects: Design Experiment
- Area: 2368 ft²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Sankeerth Jonnada
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Manufacturers: GRAPHISOFT, dormakaba, Beta Led, D'Décor, Dastakari, Home decor, Hyderabad, Jaipur Rugs
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Lead Architects: Abhitej Velore and Sarojini Dantapalli
Text description provided by the architects. Located in one of the most population dense cities in India, Meenakshi B101, is a mid-size 3 Bedroom apartment for a young couple as their first home together. The apartment is designed to bring forth a calm and relaxed atmosphere, that allows the mind to wander in it without any element demanding for attention. Designed to be the antithesis of a city built on distractions, the apartment declutters the environment it creates, by removing anything and everything that is usually an element of decoration by replacing it with plain white surfaces and a few warm wooden elements punctuated by greenery to create an environment that tends to remove itself soon after the initial pleasant surprise of walking into an empty space.
The apartment is designed to bring in, and make use of, as much natural light as it possibly can, reflecting off its clean white walls and floors to fill up the room with the hues and shades of the day outside. Decluttering usually involves a certain level of compromise, but the B101, had been designed to suit the needs of a family in the transition phase of adding a new member, while slowly growing out of the hard party lifestyle that comes with young high-income hardworking couples in a metropolis.
The main door of the apartment is a 200kg specially engineered door that can accommodate a large storage while also being simple enough to operate without any special considerations, this massive door greets its visitors by smoothly moving itself out of the way after biometric verifications to present a space that doesn’t require anymore storage. A guest room can be added or changed into home theatre depending on the requirement at hand, the additional bedroom is suited to be converted into a child's bedroom upon requirement and a balcony that can be converted into a cocktail station, the entire apartment is designed with flexible spaces that cater to the needs of the clients varied lifestyles.
The core of the apartment is the master bedroom, which, unlike the living spaces is not designed for the mind to wander, but to be cut off, to create a sense of retreat, and mark the end of a more active day. Carefully designed to maximise the amount of space available by removing walls between the bedrooms and the bathrooms and replacing them with storage, the amount of space has been enhanced while simultaneously making the whole space feel cosier than the rest. This approach of decluttering extends into every aspect of the apartment, from removing any visible water heating devices in the bathrooms, to tidying up the thresholds given to the doors, to custom designing furniture that is designed to blend in (the swing is made of a transparent composite to mesh into the background).
