Their structure will map the living space of a series of family dwellings that appeared between the warehouse buildings behind their Mumbai workshops. Echoing the surrounding environment of the V&A’s Cast Courts, the structure will be a ‘cast’ of architectural space where visitors will navigate between the narrow corridors and claustrophobic spaces that characterise these concentrated living areas.


We’re standing in the casts court of the V&A Museum, amongst replicas of Michael Angelo’s David and many more. How does your project respond to the brief of creating a 1:1 usable space in the gallery?
What we’ve produced here is a full scale replica of an existing condition in Mumbai, primarily unauthorised structures which make up 15% of the built landscape of the city. What’s interesting is that it’s a place for refuge, contemplation and worship. What we’ve ound is that these structures have these qualities built into the dwellings so the idea was to present a space that had an ambiguity in terms of functions that demonstrated all these various qualities in them. Fundamentally similar past pigmented and mimicked the plaster cast. We tried to make the tone and colours so it would sit happily in this space. At the same time the scale of it means there is a discomfort here in this place.
What we are presenting here is actually an exact copy of a real dwelling. It’s a series of dwelling that are found inside this corridor. In reality, the corridor goes on and on, this is just a slice.

What is this space in Mumbai like? What is it made of ? How do people occupy it?
These are spaces that are not meant for building. They are set-backs between buildings, those are found and occupied. In this constricted space, we find buildings with a lot of dignity and quality of air light and comfort are integrated. The project is about finding this kind of special space in a constricted condition.

How did you make the replica? What was the process?
We taken measurements of the spaces and the proportions are there, we took them. The real condition was replicated but it is simplified. It’s the basic fundamental elements people use to build a makeshift place to live. Corrugated metal and the exterior façade is the walls of warehouses. The corrugated metal applied between two exterior walls. There’s plywood, there’s a tree which we cast because in this particular space there are actually two or three trees that are growing up that people kind of live around. There’s tone and texture to all these different materials and we cast them all in the same plaster to give it a unity.
What we are trying to reconstruct is a qualitative emotional experience of the condition within Mumbai. To try and replicate as close a condition for the visitors of the structure, but have a similar experience within the space, but take away the pots and the pans. It’s not about that. It’s about the quality of space that they have that we are trying to demonstrate.

Often things are cast for preservation as well as memory, do you see something of that in this project?
The interesting thing about this is that as we speak this particular space that we’re in the process of constructing is in the process of deconstruction in Mumbai. Those places are being emptied out, broken up, people are being moved into the outside of Mumbai into blocks. This condition, this week or last week, doesn’t exist anymore. In this particular space there would be a family of 8 to 12. But part of a huge community of about 8 families. Those families have been there for up to three generations since the 1920s. the threshold of the change and the development’s of Mumbai is being constructed.

It’s an interesting proposition and a fascinating contribution to this particular gallery space.
Well yes exactly. If you look around you in this gallery, a lot of the original sculptures that these casts were from don’t exist anymore. Sadly, it’s the same here.


The interview took place with Bijoy Jain, Kate Dineen and Michael Anastassiades.