Urban Sanctuaries: Refined Interior Architecture in Mumbai
In a city as dense as Mumbai, true luxury is found in spatial flow and quietude. We design homes that serve as sanctuaries, focusing on the interplay of natural light and the honest texture of materials.
The sculptural staircase in the Worli Duplex is the defining element of the home. Its sweeping form creates a dynamic visual anchor that breaks from the apartment's otherwise orthogonal geometry.
A view of the winding staircase, showing how its form guides movement and circulation between the two levels of the duplex apartment. The use of wood and soft curves adds warmth to the minimalist space.
The breezy open deck of the Worli apartment serves as an extension of the living spaces. It provides a private outdoor area to unwind and take in the view, creating a sanctuary within the dense urban environment.
The bathroom in the Worli Duplex is clad in white Carrara marble, creating a serene and monolithic space. The minimal palette is complemented by fluted wood accents, ensuring visual continuity with the rest of the home.
A comparison of two dining spaces, one in our Corner House project in Rotterdam. Both designs explore how to create intimate spaces for gathering within an urban context, using materials and light to define the atmosphere.
A close-up of custom wooden paneling designed for the Worli duplex. The rhythmic, carved pattern adds texture and a layer of detailed craftsmanship to the interior walls.
The interplay of light and shadow through wooden blinds in the Worli Duplex. This simple detail creates a beautiful, changing pattern on the walls, adding a sense of dynamism and life to the space.
A top-down view of the whirling staircase against a backdrop of Carrara marble. This detail highlights the contrast between the organic curve of the wooden handrail and the natural pattern of the stone.
About Urban Sanctuaries
We often begin our process with 1:100 scale physical models to study how light interacts with volume, rather than jumping straight into 3D renders. For the Worli Duplex shown here, this analytical approach allowed us to sculpt the central staircase, transforming a purely functional vertical connection into a dynamic anchor that physically and visually grounds the entire living space.
Designing an urban sanctuary requires a departure from standard interior decoration. It demands a fundamental re-evaluation of how a space functions within the chaotic context of a city like Mumbai. Our approach to high-spec renovations begins with structural gutting, where we re-engineer floor plans to establish open-plan living nuclei, often removing redundant partitions to invite natural light deep into the core of the apartment.
Materiality is our primary tool for achieving visual calm. In this project, we utilized a restrained palette—white Carrara marble, fluted teak wood, and brass—to create a sense of continuity. We are particularly rigorous about the technical details that remain invisible to the eye: the concealment of MEP services like HVAC ducts and automation systems within architectural bulkheads to ensure clean, unobstructed lines.
Whether working on a duplex apartment in Worli or a larger residential renovation, we engage in a process of design that includes:
- Layout Re-engineering: Altering vertical circulation with custom staircases to redefine the flow between levels.
- Material Specification: Selecting elements like charred timber and lime plaster that age with grace, rather than deteriorating with use.
- Technical Precision: Coordinating wood grain matching, stone cladding, and tile alignment to maintain the integrity of the design language.
We act as partners in this process, remaining on-site during execution to supervise the craft of our artisans. The result is not merely an interior design update, but a transformed architecture that provides a retreat from the urban environment.
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