When the architects were approached to design this project, the client’s brief was simple: an open and airy home is what they wished for. This should have been rather easy to do, considering that this 9th floor apartment was facing a vast expanse of greenery in the otherwise congested city of Mumbai, something that should have brought in an unending supply of natural air. However, the architectural arrangement of this apartment did not allow for cross ventilation. The strong breeze never flowed in as there were no openings on the other end to provide a way out.
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Vanwari Architects decided to try and correct the counter intuitive apartment layout and use interior design as a way of optimising the passage of air. The first task was to clear up as many internal walls as they could, since these acted as barriers to light and wind. Given that this was a high-rise residential building, most of the inner walls were made of structural reinforced concrete. The architects utilised the limited opportunities they had to dismantle the non-structural walls and create window-like openings inside the apartment.
The reorganised layout has the dining space in the centre, a space that all the rooms open up to. This space is the heart of the apartment with the inner wall of each room having varying degrees of openings that move, fold, slide or pivot. Usually, openings are binary in nature with just open or closed states, but here, this “collage of openings” not only regulates the breeze moving through, but also addresses the need for privacy during different times of use.
For example, at most times through the day the apartment can be open with the louvred windows near the entrance regulating the air flow. The wide sliding-folding translucent door of the den can be closed at times, but allows light to enter at all times. The large vertical louvres of this room can be closed if it’s being used as a bedroom, making the room more private. Similarly, the sliding kitchen glass door can close during cooking hours and the smaller horizontal louvred opening can remain open to allow the breeze to flow through. The bedroom has a small window angled strategically so that it can remain open even if the door is closed, allowing passage of air without views penetrating inside.
The frame-like openings on both the external and internal walls are all built with teak wood sections. All the doors and most of the furniture are also made using teak wood with inconspicuous built-in handles. The wavy veins of the travertine flooring flow across the apartment in the same direction as the wind. The solid internal walls and beams that form the core of the apartment are finished in grey cement-based stucco plaster.
Fact File
Name of the project: Cross Breeze Apartment
Firm: Vanwari Architects
Lead architects: Manas Vanwari, Nidhi Arya Vanwari
Location: Mumbai
Gross built area: 1,100 sq-ft
Photographs: Sebastian Zachariah
