Inside An Art-Filled Apartment On Altamount Road With Stunning Views

A newly designed apartment on Altamount Road, widely known as Mumbai’s Billionaires’ Row, is a 5,000-sq-ft haven of both contemporary and classic postcolonial touches. Home to a prominent industrialist with an extensive art collection, the sea-facing apartment dubbed Altamount Abode is akin to a gallery with various spaces designed to display the client’s extensive collection and to soak in works of art from various vantage points. Having designed the client’s office, Lara De Rooij, partner and principal architect at LMC Architects, was keenly aware of their need for a fluid and functional layout. The other part of the brief was for an elegant home that would remain timeless for the next 25 years. 

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A Unified Approach 

The apartment is equipped with three bedrooms, four bathrooms and a powder room. Every space carries the mark of sophisticated and refined design with a focus on quality materials and craftsmanship. Dutch architect De Rooij’s contemporary design envisioned for the apartment plays out right from the private elevator lobby. From wooden slats with concealed lighting and grey Versilia marble inlays, this vestibule reflects a summary of the elements employed in the residence’s interiors. 

Inside the home, an oak wood veneer wrap serves as a unifying element that guides and leads one into an array of semi-private, seamlessly interconnected spaces. Flanked by the Arabian Sea, the apartment offers the ultimate amalgam of panoramic views of the city, unhindered natural light, and waterfront views. By opening the apartment to a vast stretch of the northern façade, the living and dining areas are swathed in natural light. “We designed the common spaces such that the entire north façade is opened for its views and so that the house is flooded with natural light. The north façade has views of the sea and Mahalaxmi Racecourse. The southwest overlooks Marine Drive with views extending up to the eastern waterfront,” De Rooij explains. 

Setbacks As Opportunities

The central core of the building runs through the social spaces of the house. What would have otherwise been a stark and solid mass was cleverly transformed into a design element by incorporating wooden slats and directional lighting. This oak veneer-clad core beautifully backdrops the living area, enveloping a prayer space and a dedicated dining room. 

“The expansive glass façade of the apartment limited our ability to showcase the client’s extensive art collection. All large apartments, because of the lift core and staircase, have a dead RCC wall you need to work around. This apartment came with a 35-feet RCC wall, and so we designed this as a stunning veneer wrap with slats to allow the client’s collection to take centre stage,” says De Rooij who also carefully designed spaces throughout the home to offer optimal vantage points to admire the works of art.  

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The Art Of Materiality

Wood and marble interspersed with a touch of brass and the muted tones of fabrics make up the overarching palette of Altamount Abode. Bespoke furniture, from the two- and three-seater sofa and centre table to the armchairs, was crafted by the trusty Colonial Collections known for its timeless pieces of furniture. 

An expanse of light-veined white Michelangelo marble aids in the fluidity of spaces across the apartment. “Using a consistent marble throughout the house creates a unified and seamless feel. The light-veined marble allowed us to form subtle patterns across the apartment,” says De Rooij. 

Unifying Elements

Well within view from the living area is a freestanding grey volume, finished in textured paint and enveloped by a glass partition. Offering a glimpse into the bright and airy dining room, it also bathes the living space in the warm glow of natural Eastern light. On either side of this volume, a bespoke powder blue console with ribbed PU-painted shutters and inset wooden handles by Colonial Collections ties in with the dining chairs upholstered in a breezy blue fabric inside the dining room. 

A wooden slat ceiling outside the dining room depicts a space created to provide the illusion of an outdoor patio within the confines of the home. The wooden slats have stretched fabric lights above, making it appear as though the ceiling is open to the sky.

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A Green Nook

The indoor patio outside the dining room aligns with the principles of Vastu. Decked with potted plants, pebbles, and a low level of water, it also offers the illusion of a pseudo-outdoor space. Like a pathway of sorts that meanders past the indoor patio’s green nook, the Michelangelo marble inlays lead the way to the dining room with the warmth of the wooden slat ceiling above. 

The flower-speckled element crafted from white quartz serves as a jaali of sorts. The dandelion design, envisioned by LMC Architects, was laser cut on the quartz. Yet again, transforming an unsightly element into a design opportunity, De Rooij explains, “The façade of this area consists of jarring black vertical elements, a part of the building design we could not change. We decided to treat it such that you don’t see these elements but the light flows in through the flower jaali and into the indoor patio area with a small waterbody.”

Masterfully Concealed Creations

A nifty sliding door bridges the living area and another semi-private space—the den. The den was designed to be part of the living space to accommodate larger gatherings when required. To this end, LMC Architects integrated a receding wooden-wrapped wall with a gradually decreasing ratio to allow for a staggered wall that gradually reduces in size, with the last two divisions of the wall serving as a sliding door. 

Blending in seamlessly with the ceiling using a concealed track, the wooden wrap continues into the den when open. “The white and wooden parts of the door slide behind the staggering wall, completely tucked away from view, to make the entire den a part of the living room. The ratio was designed such that the zero point of the sliding door is exactly on the black vertical mullion of the façade to seamlessly complete the wrap when shut,” De Rooij explains.

The Room With A View

The den, a cardinal room for the client, was designed to occupy the best location in the apartment, overlooking the sea and bringing in stunning views of the setting sun. Upon entering, the phased cascading wall widens and floor-to-ceiling windows draw panoramic northern views of the Mahalaxmi Racecourse. Pristine white Michelangelo flooring flows in from the living room, only interspersed with an oak wood border and brass strip where wood meets marble. The wooden flooring mirroring the oak wood veneer ceiling strips transforms the windows into a design element that frames the façade and, thereby, the views.  

Since this bedroom was designed to be opened for large parties, De Rooij designed a cushy bespoke bed with a headrest in pale sea green Warwick fabric to match the muted fabrics used in the living room. Even the headboard light was designed from scratch using a textile shade surrounded by blown glass by Marset to add a tinge of fun to the mix. Aside from the Blue Loft recliner, the furniture in the den was crafted from scratch by Colonial Collections. 

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Back outside, a chic powder room decked in brown Crème Marfil marble is accessed through a concealed door that appears to be one with a long veneer-clad wall. “We played with different textures on the same marble. The idea was to create a jagged wall across two levels such that the back of the wall has a rough leather finish. This gets highlighted by an indirect strip light placed on the inside of the polished marble with the jagged edge,” says De Rooij. A large round mirror adds a softness to counter the edginess of the bathroom’s jagged walls.

Despite being privy to solely the living room and den, it’s evident that this new apartment on Billionaires’ Row fulfils the brief of a functional layout with a focus on craftsmanship, materiality and sophisticated design elements.