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Architects: Malik Architecture
- Area: 10870 ft²
- Year: 2022
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Manufacturers: Mascon Const. & Interior, Mohit Interiors, Studio Trace, TRG international
Text description provided by the architects. The 140-year-old Ambico Ice Factory is located in Ballard estate, the heart of Mumbai's heritage precinct. We have reimagined the space as IF.BE (Ice Factory Ballard Estate), is an organism that merges art, exhibition, events, performances, gatherings, food, and design. Essentially it is a space for encounter, organized within beautiful but aging structures surrounding a large Banyan tree. Time, arbitrary additions, and asymmetric structural and infrastructural loading had caused a level of damage and decay that was revealed through a patient and assiduous examination of walls, foundations, roofs, etc. The drawing archives revealed a continuous courtyard connecting Calicut and Cochin Street, which was now cluttered with ad-hoc structures and metal roofs. Within this courtyard, an old banyan tree sits alongside the chimney of the factory. The coherence of the load-bearing, wooden-trussed, north-lit interior spaces has been somewhat vitiated by successive divisions and alterations. The roots of the tree, growing within the premises, had been choked under rubble and concrete. This tree provided the spark of inspiration that birthed the project - the shift from the Ambico Ice Factory to IF.BE.
