Indian studio Malik Architecture has turned a 144-year-old ice factory in Ballard Estate, Mumbai, into the IF.BE contemporary gallery.
The renovation, led and funded by Malik Architecture, aimed to preserve the ex-industrial space, which is in an area where the majority of un-listed buildings are demolished, and create an arts development that could serve as "a reference for the past and future".
▲ Malik Architecture修复了这座拥有 144 年历史的制冰厂
Malik Architecture restored the 144-year old ice factory
画廊名为IF.BE – Ice Factory Ballard Estate，围绕着一个中央庭院。
Malik Architecture首席建筑师Arjun Malik说：“我们在图纸档案中发现了一个连接着街道的连续庭院，目前庭院内杂乱无章地堆放着临时建筑和金属屋顶，这似乎证明了这些美丽的历史片段被人们所忽视。”
Named IF.BE – Ice Factory Ballard Estate, the gallery was designed around a central courtyard.
"The drawing archives revealed a continuous courtyard connecting Calicut and Cochin Street, which is currently cluttered with ad-hoc structures and metal roofs: physical evidence of the apathy with which these beautiful fragments of history are treated," Malik Architecture principal architect Arjun Malik told Dezeen.
▲ 榕树庇护着庭院和毗邻空间
The Banyan tree shelters the courtyard and adjoining spaces
工作室保留了中央庭院中的一棵大榕树，其根系不断蔓延，已经开始对历史建筑结构造成破坏。
Malik Architecture修复了大榕树造成的破坏，并进行了“外部干预”，改造了周围的冰厂、变电站、冷库和冰块区，使得这些空间都在大榕树的庇护之下。
The studio retained a large Banyan Tree in the central courtyard, which had begun to cause damage to the historic building fabric with its spreading roots.
Malik Architecture repaired the damage from the tree and carried out "surgical interventions" to transform the surrounding ice factory, sub-station, cold storage and the ice-cubing area, which are all sheltered under the tree.
▲ 斜屋顶延伸至庭院
The pitched roof was extended over the courtyard
变电站原有的斜面灯笼屋顶延伸到庭院上方，形成全新的“大教堂式”长廊区域。
该屋顶最初为北向采光桁架，后来旋转了 90 度，以便从东面采光，同时也确保了邻近建筑的采光和通风。
The original pitched lantern roof of the substation was extended over the courtyard, to form a new "cathedral" gallery area.
This roof, initially a north-light truss, was rotated by 90 degrees to let in light from the east – also ensuring light and ventilation for the neighbouring structure.
▲ 在庭院旁创建了“大教堂”空间
The "cathedral" space was created alongside the courtyard
建筑师力求保留整个工厂的原始细节。
石膏墙被刮掉，露出了原始的砖砌结构，而专业的木工团队则修复了木桁架和木板，露出了复古的缅甸柚木。
为了唤起人们对老工厂的记忆，整个空间还保留了一些重新利用的原始工业工艺品。
其中包括镶嵌在卡利卡特街主入口玻璃地板上的巨型冷却线圈，为整个空间增添了博物馆般的质感。
原来用于搬运冰板的龙门架经过改造后，现在不仅成为了艺术装置的一部分，还可以用来分隔空间。
Throughout the factory Malik Architecture aimed to preserve original details.
Plaster walls were scraped off to uncover the original brickwork, while a specialist wood-working team restored the wooden trusses and boarding to reveal the vintage Burma-teak woodwork.
Several repurposed original industrial artefacts across the space were retained to evoke a sense of the old factory.
These include giant cooling coils embedded in the glass floor at the main entrance on Calicut Street, giving the space a museum-like quality.
The original gantry that was once used to move slabs of ice has been adapted so it can now be mobilised as part of art installations or used to partition the space.
▲ 东面采光的屋顶标志着 IF.BE 的入口
The east-light roof marks the entry to IF.BE
Overall, the studio aimed to create a space that tied together the past and modern interventions.
"The suturing we carried out aimed to heighten the fragile, almost tenuous relationship between the found and the made, manifesting the true nature of IF.BE as an exploration of the liminal space between speculation and reality," the studio told Dezeen.
