What was previously a dark and dingy DDA Apartment – an aggregation of tiny rooms, each unsparingly confined within its many blatant restricting walls; is now a delightful home that awakens senses and nurtures the soul with its sun-kissed openness and muted design tone.
Project Name: The Kalkaji Residence
Category: Interior Architecture
Location: Delhi, India
Area: 1300 Sqft
Status: Completed | 2021
Client: Kriti Tula (Co-Founder of the sustainable fashion brand ‘Doodlage’)
Photographers: Vibhor Yadav and Niveditaa Gupta
Project Design & Execution: Logic Architecture + Research
This residence at Kalkaji, Delhi, is a transformed composition with ingeniously demarcated and intuitively fluid spaces that bind together all of 1300 Sqft in harmony. The newly wed clients, Vaibhav and Kriti (Co-Founder of a sustainable fashion brand named ‘Doodlage’) wanted to reconfigure their apartment into a cosy, functional and well-lit space with adequate room to host gatherings. They invited Logic to envision a home that complements their dynamic personality while catering to their simplistic lifestyle and preferences as well.
The design challenge was to achieve a holistic spatial experience that is real and pleasurable, despite a small site area, a tight budget and a structurally limiting context within a very old apartment building – the building itself being nestled amidst a cluster of many such identical lookalikes planned to be elementary shelters, far from the romantic pursuit of an original wishful/intentful abode. This called for a highly opportunistic design approach rooted in problem solving and a thoughtful curation of the base material palette. The bare shell has been reimagined to create an open plan layout via precarious structural modifications, removal of internal walls and incorporation of large windows along the periphery. Much of the original basic framework of the home including its walls, floors, ceiling etc has been manipulated to enhance spatial volume, and then used as an expressive means in design to define the character of the home.
Upon entering, one is welcomed in an adaptive spatial configuration that breaks through the monotony of restricted zones, to have a composite identity rich in textures, light and geometry. The home derives its essence from an honest expression of the material palette, which is a concoction of raw natural materials like wood, concrete, black granite and metal. There’s a great deal of attention to scale and psychological perception, which when put together with attentive detailing, adds a certain depth to the ambience and creates an immersive visual impact.
The different areas within the home have a sequential relationship with one another and are seamlessly cohesive in spirit. Each element in the home- however big or small, has been intent fully designed to respect spatial constraints and serve purpose. The partition wall for example, that divides The Living Room and The Study is definitely transitional but also multifaceted– apart from serving the privacy requisite between the two spaces through fluted glass blocks, it provides shared access to some open utility and display blocks for both spaces, and also serves as a secondary natural light inlet for the living room that is devoid of windows. Likewise, The Study is majorly characterised by a single monolithic furniture mass i.e. a day bed, that extends upwards to form a work-desk in the corner.
Replete with natural light pouring in from every face, the apartment speaks a carefree unconventional language with subtle boho accents that evoke the user’s individuality. The space contextually assumes and adapts to many different moods, manifesting a character that fosters wholesome solitude and bustling hospitality alike.
