● The expansive living room flows seamlessly into the terrace, creating a rare urban oasis with a tactile Chevron-patterned floor and lush softscape — delivering the feeling of a villa within a high-rise.
● A hidden Murphy bed transforms the open-plan den into a full-fledged bedroom, allowing for flexible use without disrupting the home’s minimal aesthetic.
● The custom ribbon-style staircase, finished in warm wood with a glass balustrade, elegantly wraps around a capsule elevator — fusing accessibility with sculptural grace at the heart of the home.
Concept:
Perched high above the bustling cityscape of South Mumbai, Noire House offers a serene, spatially intelligent haven in the sky. Conceived as a contemporary “villa in the sky,” this duplex occupies the 21st and 22nd floors of a residential high-rise and belongs to a couple in their 40s with two grown children. The clients' brief was clear: a spatially expansive, uncluttered home that resonates with a quiet, confident sense of luxury. Responding to this, the design embraces a refined material palette, understated gestures, and spatial planning that values fluidity and emotional resonance over extravagance.
The duplex unfolds with a sense of ease and grandeur. The lower level is anchored by a voluminous living and dining space that spills effortlessly into a lush, 800-square-foot private terrace — arguably the project’s most dramatic spatial gesture. Framed by full-height openings, this seamless indoor-outdoor transition elevates the experience of urban living, offering scale and breathability that’s rare in Mumbai. The terrace itself is detailed with a Chevron-patterned stone finish, balancing softness and sophistication with quiet artistry.
The living space also integrates a multipurpose den — an enclosed yet connected volume that can be completely cordoned off to function as a guest bedroom. Hidden within panelled walls is a Murphy bed, allowing the room to transform fluidly without any aesthetic compromise. This modularity, executed with architectural subtlety, underscores the design team’s ability to layer functionality into spatial poetry.
On the upper level, the duplex unfolds into two expansive bedroom suites, each with a dedicated walk-in wardrobe and indulgent en-suite bath. The master suite features parquet flooring in rich wood tones, while the bathrooms across the home are clad in deeply veined marble and English patterned floors, creating an immersive, tactile experience that balances craft with contemplation. An independent mandir and a tucked-away study space complete this private level, allowing for moments of stillness and focus.
Materiality throughout Noire House is restrained yet immersive. Soft grey, lime-plastered walls envelop the space in a muted tactility, while a continuous white marble floor with grey streaks runs through the lower level, grounding the volumes with consistency. Deep wood accents on walls, furniture, and even the ribbon-style staircase add warmth and dignity. The staircase itself, sculptural in form with a PU finish and glass railing, curls elegantly around a capsule elevator that rises like a transparent column, adding a vertical sculptural element and functional ease, especially for multi-generational access.
Furniture and lighting selections enhance this atmosphere of quiet luxury. Pieces sourced from Blueloft, Objectry, Sarita Handa, Solid Bench, Soisu, and Waulte balance craftsmanship and comfort, while lighting from Glass Forest, Artemis, Stem Lights, and Length Breadth Height casts a warm glow across textured surfaces. Art by Abhay Sehgal and Kapil Anant animates the walls without overwhelming them, and curated greenery from Studio Palasa and Sparrow Nursery brings a biophilic softness to this elevated home.
As a complete canvas, Noire House is less a display of design than an orchestration of mood, light, and tactility. It demonstrates a mature restraint, allowing scale, texture, and thoughtful detailing to speak louder than ornamentation. Every element, from the monolithic staircase to the intimate study nook, works in quiet harmony, making this home not just a residence, but an experience suspended in the sky.
Fact File:
Name of the Project: Noire House
Design Firm: Quirk Studio (@quirkstudio)
Principal Designers: Shivani Ajmera & Disha Bhavsar
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Area: 4,500 sq.ft
Photo Credits: Ishita Sitwala (@ishyfishy)
Date of completion: May 2025
Design Highlights:
