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    • Design

    ADND’s new studio in Mumbai scripts an experience rooted in history and materiality

    AUG 27, 2024 | By Lavanya Chopra
    Minimalist silhouettes dominate Shobhan Kothari’s cabin, with a stained wood table and woven jute chairs, all designed by ADND; Photographs by Photographix India
    Marble from Classic Marble Company streams across the cafeteria as tabletops. The framed monochromatic artworks are Anand’s creations; Photographs by Photographix India
    The 12 ft long, black-stained oak table in the conference room pairs with Mid-Century-style chairs with customised overhead lighting; Photographs by Photographix India

    Peering over their shoulders into Mumbai’s unrelenting spirit is an eternal reminder of what the Maximum City has given team ADND: a beginning, stories worth a lifetime and its entire being. Catapulting into its 22nd year of practice, the twin-founder studio by Anand Menon and Shobhan Kothari inhabits a 5,000 sq ft space, heralding an advent on several fronts. After over 14 years at their previous outpost, the team’s expansion warranted a larger, unified space, housing ADND’s dedicated minds and hands under one roof.

    What ensued was a tryst with destiny! In the heart of Mumbai’s Vile Parle, awaiting the flick of a design wand, rested a 100-year-old industrial compound that is home to Parle’s heritage enterprise. Decrepit, mould-ridden and light-deprived, this silo building was rough around the edges yet held immense potential brewing under its skin.

    With refurbished Andhra chocolate stone floors, the entrance lobby features a 12 mm metal sheet bench custom-designed by ADND alongside a collage of Anand’s monochrome photographs from his travels across the world; Photographs by Photographix India

     

    Anand Menon’s cabin distils his objects of desire and inspiration. An A-frame-style artist’s table assumes the spotlight, paired with leather and wood chairs created by JP Arts; Photographs by Photographix India

    “Our intent was clear, to delve into this adaptive reuse endeavour while celebrating the ingrained architectural elements and to reimagine how materials could convey the essence of evolved luxury within the Indian design landscape,” mentions Shobhan.

    A sojourn through the studio reveals a plethora of experiences, a visceral rush of visuals in my opinion. Picture an ebony-shelled lobby, a gallery-esque reception, terracotta-drenched cafeteria, colossal workstation bay with soaring proportions and a conference room populating communal spaces. Meanwhile, a dichotomy is witnessed at its best with Shobhan’s spartan workspace that celebrates his logophilia intersecting with Anand’s art-dotted haven, which is an ode to the artist he is at heart.

    Minimalist silhouettes dominate Shobhan Kothari’s cabin, with a stained wood table and woven jute chairs, all designed by ADND; Photographs by Photographix India

     

    The workstation bay featuring Anantaya’s stool leads to the principals’ cabins with a planter from Abaca framing its doors; Photographs by Photographix India

    “The unfinished canvas, askew walls and elongated girders are like historical remnants, akin to inheritance passed down through generations. The shell holds cast in situ terrazzo-embedded concrete floors, textured walls, colossal metal-frame doors and isolated pools of colour,” illustrates Anand.

    Hugging the railway lines along its western edge, the building’s interiors harness a play of morphing internal heights and bear a nostalgic picture window into the city with the hiss and rumble of whizzing trains as the eternal background score.

     

    Soaring to almost 30 ft, the workstations stay naturally lit by the circular openings; Photographs by Photographix India

     

    Marble from Classic Marble Company streams across the cafeteria as tabletops. The framed monochromatic artworks are Anand’s creations; Photographs by Photographix India

    With this new beginning and countless hours spent at the drawing board (refreshingly for themselves this time), Shobhan and Anand have resolutely honed the dream with banter, grit and a voracious appetite for leaving behind a legacy. “To us, this new abode is a comma, emblematic of an intentional pause that makes room for the new. We strived to chisel something extraordinary from the humble and seemingly ordinary and believe we have scripted a space that feels borrowed yet discernibly ours,” notes the duo in conclusion.

    Scroll to tour the studio…

    Dividing the principals’ cabins, the lounge features a custom-designed sofa and an FRP coffee table (both crafted by Chandan Traders) along with a textured jute rug by Jaipur Rugs; Photographs by Photographix India

     

    The 12 ft long, black-stained oak table in the conference room pairs with Mid-Century-style chairs with customised overhead lighting; Photographs by Photographix India

     

    In the hustle room, a parametric task luminaire, custom-designed by ADND, features laser-cut plywood sections. The work platform is a geometric composition of 8 mm thick metal sheets finished in raw black and has been crafted by Jasim Fabrication Works; Photographs by Photographix India

     

    Oak chairs designed by Anand feature printed upholstery, derived from his doodles. Wordplay etched on the walls and floors of the studio fuel creative stimulus; Photographs by Photographix India

    Now read: Arc de Triomphe – a Mumbai home by ADND that is a triumph of contemporary design