serie architects / chris lee and kapil gupta: the tote, mumbaiall images by fram petit / courtesy serie architects

chris lee and kapil gupta of serie architects have designed ‘the tote’, mumbai, a banquet hall, restaurant and bar. their brief was to incorporate a series of disused buildings from the city’s colonial past set within the mumbai race course and convert them to form a series of restaurant and bars. the conservation guidelines called for the preservation of the roof profile for three-quarters of the buildings and full conservation for the remaining one-quarter.

the interesting aspect of the site, however, lied not in the colonial buildings but in the open spaces covered by mature rain trees. these spaces are shaded throughout the year by the thinly wide spread leaves of the rain trees, allowing almost the entire proposed program to occur outdoors. their proposal attempted to continue the idea of a continuously differentiated space, with no clear boundary, into the envelope of the conservation building. a new structure was proposed within the old building envelope.

the structural system adopted is that of a tree-branch. the propagation of the branching system along the longitudinal section of the conserved building is differentiated in its growth along the transverse section. the differentiation reorganizes the old buildings with new dining programs. therefore each dining program (wine bar, restaurant, pre-function and banquet facilities) is captured within a different spatial volume, defined by the variable degree of the branching structure.

the false ceiling is a complex arrangement of three lighting systems built up in plasterboard and plywood coves. they allow flexibility to alter the lighting effects based on event type. the tree structure was designed to be a steel truss and the challenge lay in working through the construction system compatible with local skills. rather than looking at steel fabricators within the building construction sector, we sourced boiler fabricators for high precision work.

the interior of the lounge bar on the upper level is an intricate arrangement of 3-dimensional, faceted wooden panelling, acoustically treated with sound proofing material. the pattern of the panelling is a series of trees with intersecting branches. they devised a 3 point co-ordinate system to map out the pattern onto the walls of the heritage wing, given the 3 dimensional nature of the panelling and that each intersecting point had a totally different x,y and z co-ordinate. this system allowed local craftsmen using fairly primitive tools to achieve a high level of fit and finish for the interior works. the faceted panelling is finished in walnut veneer with bronze channels making up the tree pattern.

branching type

branching type

branching type

branching type

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