Excerpt: The Globetrotters’ Haven by unTAG Architecture & Interiors showcases affordable luxury through Tropical Modernism, inspired by Sri Lankan architecture. The home interior project blends rustic, earthy materials like exposed brick, wooden accents, white walls, and printed floors, creating a timeless aesthetic. Handmade tiles, rattan, and salvaged wood furniture enhance the space, while indoor greenery adds to the natural, Bawa-inspired design.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] unTAG Architecture & Interiors’ narrative of affordable luxury encapsulates the owners’ love of globetrotting, nature and Tropical Modernism in this Mumbai apartment, second home to two creative individuals based in Sri Lanka. The USP of this home is the clear expanse of the greens you look over; whose canopies transform from greens to yellows to vermilion seasonally. The first instinct the designers got from the site was, the home deserved a spacious living cum dining space with an open kitchen.
Recreating the humble rustic vibes of tropical modernism seen in Srilankan Architecture. The project is a beautiful journey of working with the lovely clients, Arefa & Aditya, a young charismatic indian couple, who love travelling the world, currently staying in Sri Lanka since 15 years, who wanted a second home in Mumbai, but with the vibes of TROPICAL MODERNISM, taking inspiration from the legendary Geoffrey Bawa. Arefa being an author while Aditya being a self-taught nature photographer, both having travelled the world, this home needed to be a lil living museum of their amazing journeys taken together and designing a ‘home away from home’ for the clients.
‘To Keep it Simple’. An explorative attempt at conceptualizing and executing AFFORDABLE LUXURY in Interiors through the realm of Tropical Modernism, evidently seen in Srilankan architecture. The programme was largely kept intact — except for the wall separating the living and kitchen which was pulled down to make the living feel more spacious and airy. The pubic zone is a seamless entity with a spacious living-dining area and an open kitchen forming a single space. From the dining area, a tiny passage leads first to the guest cum media room and culminates at a spacious master bedroom with an ensuite study.
Given the aesthetic direction prescribed by vernacular tropical homes, materiality embraces the rustic and the earthy. White walls, printed floors, wooden accents and exposed brick walls give a sense of timelessness to the space. The walls are layered with printed handmade tiles. Budget-friendly and an economic approach, all well-crafted rattan and salvaged wood furniture was customized from Mumbai’s Oshiwara market in the western suburbs. Indoor greens were also treated as a ‘material’ since they complement the holistic palette of the home, and also because they are an inextricable part of Bawa-esque designs making it a timeless experience in all senses.
The styling of the home with art works also brings upon the character of the space and the likings of the client. The client, Aditya, himself being a professional photographer, mesmerising photographs taken by him had to adorn the white walls. Each artefact and piece of art in the house is a personal memoir, a unique story to tell and a joy to give!
One of the biggest challenges was indeed, how would you craft a sense of luxury yet being humble/cost effective. How would you use cost-effective materials, yet creatively layer them together to create a sense of affordable luxury. The answer was simple, to keep it minimal. Adhering to the principles of Less is More, the designers spent only where needed, they bought only what was needed.
Also, having never really met the clients in person, and being entrusted with the responsibility of crafting the home aesthetics by these strangers, was a huge challenge in itself. The designers were the clients’ eyes, and importantly their trust in them, led to the materialization of this simple minimal abode. Executing a project during pandemic had its own upheavals, but they sailed through right!
Holistically speaking, the ambience of simplicity and humility that the home echoes, in-sync with Geoffrey Bawa’s philosophy is what makes it a special place to live in. The designers’ biggest take away from this project was the ability to use different materials, textures, art pieces and natural greens, achieving timelessness in a space, no matter how big the space is. This earthy humble palette grows over you, day after day, transforming an apartment to a home.
The opportunity itself was so fulfilling, to be able to envision the dream of the clients and help turn it into reality! The amalgamation of the design speaks for itself. The motive to create and design a home was lived through the whole process at every step. The artwork selected, the client’s pictures, adventurous stories to tell across as globetrotters, and aspects of design all homogeneously blending making it an even more sentimental experience for the designers.
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