Wheeler Apartment

A 950 sq ft apartment in Bangalore, redesigned for a young professional household. The original nine-room plan (typical of middle-to-upper class urban Indian homes, where partitions enforce privacy, security, and often gendered or caste-based hierarchies) was opened to allow light and air to move through. Walls are placed to support seating and storage; bi-fold doors and floor-to-ceiling linen dividers offer adjustable separation.

A new central axis connects the living space, open kitchen, and office. Rooms are sized to their function, freeing space for this spine of light and air. The building sits among jackfruit, coconut, and gulmohar trees—an increasingly rare condition in a densifying city—and windows with deep in-wall seating frame the neighbouring canopy.

Floors, walls, and counters are finished continuously in terra cotta-toned Indian Patent Stone, a traditional pigmented cement. Off-white walls, clear-varnished plywood, and reclaimed teak keep the palette neutral. Metal frames and railings are painted sage green. Potted plants along the exterior railings ease the transition outdoors.

Architects: Amrit Phull, Kunaal Mehta

Completed: 2023

Size: 950 sq ft

Structural: BL Manjunath, Manjunath & Co

Construction: Prashant, Arvind (Contractors) · Lakki, Shankar, Mohan (Cement Masons) · Parthipan, Rajesh (Carpenters) · Jinnak, Ramdev (Painters) · Devanand (Wood Polisher) · Arumugam (Steel Fabricator)