Fact File
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Size: 345 sq m
Principal Architect: Puran Kumar
Photography by: Deepshikha Jain and Sameer Chawda
The Loft by Puran Kumar’s Studio PKA is a paragon of timeless, contextual, and tactile detailing. Located on the fourth floor of a Victorian heritage building in the heart of South Bombay’s Art District, it is the workspace for architecture and design practices. The experience rendered here, amidst culture, punctilious materiality, and sheer volume, is perhaps best elucidated by the team that inhabits it—it is a space that embodies an inextricable layer of time that revels in its ability to intermingle with disparate components of distinct eras. “I remember the day I first set foot in this majestic workspace two years ago as a novice in the field, having been sent out for the first time to attend an evening of creative and cultural discourse without the solace of my managing editor. I was enraptured as soon as the lift doors opened, and I came face to face with what can only be described as a poetic expression of immaculate spatial experiences.”
A conscious effort has been made to rigorously explore each element that constitutes this workspace so that the process of “peeling away” layers and exposing the natural character of the space followed simple acts of pausing, taking a couple of steps back, and moving forward again—akin to a rhythmic staccato. “The idea of unearthing and discovering, rather than a set mandatory approach, was adopted to respect, retain, and celebrate the spirit of the place and to respond to the myriad experiences the space could offer. “Natural light, ventilation, and the objective of utilising the various vantage points to the fullest were of utmost importance while designing the space,” explained the Studio.
An atrium, which doubles as the entrance, is bathed in natural light and houses the reception, a formal meeting room, and a vertical backdrop that frames the machine room that sits atop a wooden elevator. Intersecting gabled roofs and their structural supports were contributing factors to the spatial language of the studio. The wooden purlins and rafters and the robust trusses clad in metal have all been stripped and restored to create an emphatic flavour. Although a formal spatial arrangement exists, transparency allows the various segregations to flow seamlessly into one another; the character thus permeates throughout the facility. A certain charm and thrill of discovery are ever present as the inherited elements spring up as evocative defining characters—the metal sections, the roofs and trusses, the windows, and the staircases that act as bridges between separate levels.
The space’s tactility maintains its raw, unkempt, and stark nature by retaining its inherent character, revealing surfaces beneath superficial layers of paint and plaster, and recycling elements such as discarded doors salvaged from demolished buildings throughout the city and breathing new life into them. Limiting the introduction of new lightweight and cost-effective materials, such as cement blocks and boards, wood, hollow metal sections, and stone, complements rather than detracts from the essence of the place. On the other hand, the glass acts as an interesting departure and counterpoint to the roughness of textures that brings forth dimensions of transparency and depth.
