160sqft apartment in Bandra, Mumbai

How to live like a king in 160 sq-feet

All you need is about one lakh rupees, a couple of moving walls and some lateral thinking, as this micro apartment in a Bandra village proves

Anand Holla

Posted On Friday, April 29, 2011 at 03:23:08 AM

In a city as cramped as Mumbai, it would be charming if space could stretch, warp and generally become larger. At this tiny 160-square feet apartment in Bandra, this is exactly what happens. Walls move and rearrange themselves to reveal rooms that weren't there a few seconds ago. It's almost as if there is an extra dimension much like there was in the magical tent in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was blessed with the 'Undetectable Extension Charm'. The idea of Ayaz Basrai's 'micro studio' in an antiquated structure of a 400-year old village off Hill Road evokes thick stirrings of claustrophobia. But the 32-year-old interior designer has turned his matchbox into a kingsize home last August with the help of walls that move. Slide one and you have a library. Shift another and there is enough room for a walk-in wardrobe. And staging this magic cost him only a lakh. Interior designer Ayaz Basrai has unleashed the potential space of his tiny house The house - in Ranwar, one of the 24 pakhadis (hamlets) that formed Bandra - lies amidst the few dozen old, low-floored, porch-flaunting structures that have Portuguese influences. It is tucked in lanes dotted with crucifixes and open squares. Unlocking a collapsible iron grill that gives way to a flight of 14 weather-worn wooden stairs and his residence, Basrai smiles and says, "This is high security area." The creaky staircase and the decrepit-looking structure do little to alleviate your worst apprehensions. But then Basrai unlocks the vintage-styled wooden door of his house. At first sight itself, the ampleness of the place is nothing less than overwhelming. Basrai has unleashed the apartment's potential space. "Do not compromise on the quality of your life due to the size of the house because it is the size of the idea that matters. When you move in, you need to rid yourself of all physical and mental baggage and take a completely fresh approach. You need to ask yourself - What potential does this place have?" So he penned his wish list for his new abode, and procured them all - a kingsize bed, home theatre system, full-length softboard, walk-in wardrobe, multi-rack library, large work area, bathroom-cum-toilet and a pantry with a Lilliputian fridge and a microwave oven. After replacing the dull vinyl flooring with no-nonsense tiles and wooden laminated floors, Basrai used some lateral thinking to squeeze out a large house from limited space. He says, "It is all about taking your fascination with your favourite thing or activity to the extreme. For instance, my friend - a couch potato - wants to customise the place she is moving into. So we need to get a massive couch that doubles up as a bed and that becomes the centerpiece for everything else, say an oven for her popcorn and a mini fridge for her soft drinks. You can have a pool in the middle of your house and design everything around it too." For ventilation in the tiny space, Basrai has stuck a wall fan facing his bed and an air conditioner near the study - while two windows open out on each of these sides for cross-ventilation. He has kept his light arrangements at a bare minimum - LED spotlights across the ceilings and a couple of lamps liven up the bed and study. Basrai doesn't have cable TV. "If I want to catch up on news, I get it online," he says. The bathroom isn't too tiny and there is a four feet dry area right outside it. In one corner is the pantry with an oven and a mini-fridge. "I usually eat out at a nearby Irani joint or hop across to my parent's home a few times a week," he says. As he has splashed his home with white, except some brown and teal-coloured walls around his bed, the sense of space is striking. The 9-feet-tall ceiling enhances this effect. Graffiti of 'Dirty Old Man' - who he jokes he will look like 30 years later - adorns the sliding walls. His soft board is a potpourri of his influences - Qutub Minar's architectural plan, a Metallica poster, Pamela Anderson Lee saying 'Hello Boys' and Pirates of the Caribbean characters, among others. Basrai also doodles on the wall next to his pillow when he's in the mood. His collection of graphic novels takes pride of place in the library - with plenty of space left for a few classics and (right) the view from outside Basrai jumped at the opportunity of living it up at this heritage precinct. He wanted the quaintness of village life in the heart of the 'queen of suburbs'. Spurred by the need to focus on his work, Basrai left his earlier sprawling residence on Bandra's Chimbai Road and opted for this bachelor pad. "Ridiculously steep rents drive away those who wish to live in places such as Colaba or Bandra. But with customisation you can live wherever you want and still pay affordable rents," says Basrai, who considers his Rs 17,000 monthly rent quite a deal. Basrai's office - his design studio 'Busride' - is less than 40 seconds away from his house. "I longed to live in a place like this village, where there is a strong sense of culture and belonging," he says. He calls his terrace a 'deal-maker'. At the end of serpentine stairs, it offers a neat view of the gaothan. He hangs out here with friends on a starry night. Basrai is certain that this 'microstudio home' trend is bound to catch up soon in the space-starved Mumbai. "Compaction culture is the future of the city's housing. Twenty years back, even 1-BHK homes or studio flats were a fresh idea and back then, they seemed like an exception."  Sliding spaces How Basrai's tiny apartment changes shape When you enter, Basrai's pad looks like a usual - even if extremely well done - Bandra studio apartment. There is a bed on one side, facing a flat-screen Television; a study if you go to the other side of the room separated by a rather thick wall, which, we don't know yet, is actually a combination of three walls (a dark-green fixed wall and the two panels marked A and B in the figure above). There is a tiny pantry with a mini fridge, a hot plate and a small microwave; a tiny loo and a small change room separated by a transluscent glass wall. Classy, but not extraordinary. Things start getting interesting when Basrai points to a German channel on the ceiling, with tiny rollers that help the marine plywood walls, A and B, slide along the breadth of the room. When he moves A towards the study, it reveals a walk-in wardrobe, with clothes on one side (in the shelves in wall A) and a full-length mirror (on wall B). There are enough niches to keep clothes on this wall as well, but he's kept this space free for when he has a house-guest. Basrai then slides both the A and B walls towards the study to reveal an elaborate library, with bookshelves fitted into the fixed green wall. This area has spotlights embedded in the ceiling so that he can pull a chair and read. The walls have a hollow square cut out, which align together to form an AC vent so that cool air can circulate in the apartment no matter what avatar it is in at that moment - study, wardrobe, or library.