IF.BE

The 140-year-old Ambico Ice Factory is located in Ballard Estate, the heart of Mumbai's heritage precinct. We have re-imagined the space as IF.BE (Ice Factory Ballard Estate), an organism that merges art/exhibition/events/performance/gathering/food and design. Essentially it is a space for encounter; organized within beautiful but aging structures surrounding a large Banyan tree. Time, arbitrary additions, asymmetric structural and infrastructural loading had caused a level of damage and decay that was revealed through a patient and assiduous examination. The recovery of the courtyard, restoring safety and clarity to the existing structure, revealing the organizational and physical anatomy, allowing the Banyan tree to breathe and finding a way to shelter the new/additional spaces through a dialogue with the original structures was critical. The Ice Factory, sub-station, cold storage and ice-cubing area required intensive examination and surgical intervention through retrofits to stabilize crumbling, warped and leaking walls, sagging roofs and trusses. For four months, the factory's decades-old plaster walls were gently scraped before the first semblance of brickwork could emerge. The existing North-light truss roofs were extended over the Cathedral undergoing two mutations to form the East-lights while simultaneously dipping sharply towards the existing stone boundary wall to preserve light and ventilation for the neighboring structure. Industrial artifacts found on site were creatively repurposed to evoke the factory's history. Giant cooling coils used to manufacture ice have been embedded in the glass floor towards the entrance, giving the space a museum-like quality. The original gantry, used to move slabs of ice, continues to be housed and innovatively repurposed in the Ice Factory. The suturing is imagined to heighten the fragile, almost tenuous relationship between the ‘Found’ and the ‘Made’. It manifests the true nature of IF-BE as an exploration of the liminal space between speculation (IF) and reality (BE). IF.BE is a “seed” for urban regeneration in a largely commercial heritage precinct. It serves as an example of sustainability through preservation. It becomes an exercise in micro-urbanism, adaptive reuse and a space for discourse in the public realm. Its message is material and notional. The rendezvous of spaces with different quantities of light / dimension / volume / material around the Banyan tree forces one to engage with the space in unconventional ways unlike the “all white” gallery spaces or “black box” performance venues. Users and curators are encouraged to formulate their own conversations with the space and its evolving program. A significant aspect of this project is that it has been imagined, mobilised, designed, built and FUNDED (along with two equal partners) by Malik Architecture as a multi-pronged response to the rapid erosion of public space and institutions, as well as an unhealthy attitude towards our built history. In a way, it is an act of resistance towards the lack of physical space for open, healthy, democratic discourse and a hope that other like-minded individuals embark on a similar journey.