Arcsmith
A white gallery hall with visitors

ProjectsCulturalMumbai2025

Vessel Gallery

A gallery for contemporary ceramics hollowed out of a former grain warehouse in Ballard Estate.

Location
Mumbai, India
Completion
2025
Built area
2,600 m²
Plot size
1,900 m²
Status
In progress
Client
Vessel Arts Foundation

The project

ServicesArchitecture, Exhibition design
HeritageGrade II listed, 1911
StructureIn-situ concrete within stone shell
Galleries5, plus courtyard
Opening2027

The warehouse is a protected structure with a stone shell and a collapsed roof. Our proposal keeps the shell untouched and inserts a freestanding concrete vessel within it, leaving a gap of daylight all the way round.

Galleries occupy the vessel; the gap becomes a shaded street where the foundation holds its public programme. The new roof is a single pleated concrete plate that channels monsoon rain into a cistern below the courtyard.

Construction began in 2025 and the gallery is due to open for the 2027 season.

The Mumbai skyline at night
Ballard Estate and the harbour at night.Fig. 01
The dark shell of the warehouse
The warehouse shell before work began.Fig. 02
Ground floor planSTUDY14 M2STORE15 M2GALLERY22 M2HALL19 M2COURTTERRACE36 M240.0040NPLAN — LEVEL 011:100 · A-101ARCSMITH
Ground floor: the vessel and the gap.Fig. 03
A gallery wall hung with work
Gallery two, visualisation.Fig. 04
A white gallery with a single wall of work
Gallery five, the top-lit room.Fig. 05

Approach

Leave the old walls alone. Everything new stands free and could be removed.

The gap is the most important room in the building.

Next project

All projects
A beige armchair in the loft living room

Interiors · Bengaluru

Cinder Loft