Reviving History: The Transformation of Mumbai’s Oldest Ice Factory into a Cultural Hub
Reviving History: The Transformation of Mumbai's Oldest Ice Factory into a Cultural Hub
Not sure what to do in Mumbai this weekend?
How about exploring the southern part of the city, specifically the fancy neighborhood of Ballard Estate? There’s this amazing two-story building called IF.BE on Calicut Road. Initially an ice factory dating back to 1878, it’s now a hotspot for artists and thinkers to chat about creativity and art. Kamal Malik, a seasoned architect with almost fifty years of experience, shares the story of renovating this nearly 150-year-old structure. He mentions that the former Ambico Ice Factory used to supply most of South Mumbai’s ice. Today, IF.BE is a huge 10,000-square-foot venue with cool sections like ‘The Banyan Tree Café’, ‘The Substation’ for reading and architectural goodies, ‘The Ice Factory’ for performances, ‘The Cathedral’ for exhibitions, and ‘Native Bombay’, an Indian restaurant for a fine dining experience.
Malik explains that thirty months of “painstaking efforts” were dedicated to the restoration, with a focus on incorporating sustainability in various ways. The teak wood surfaces were intentionally left unpolished, giving a rough, authentic feel to the staircase at Native Bombay. Safety upgrades were made where necessary, including structural reinforcements for the walls and roof.
Malik notes that the areas requiring the most brainstorming included the main ice factory, the sub-station, the cold storage, and the ice-cubing section. He mentions that these parts needed careful examination and precise retrofitting to stabilize the deteriorating, warped, and leaking walls, as well as the sagging roofs and trusses.
From the very beginning of the project, Malik emphasizes that repurposing was crucial. He states, “It was 80 percent adaptive restoration and 20 percent architectural intervention.”
Malik reveals that they found the brickwork beneath the plaster to be a mix of brick and wood, which provided stability to the walls and addressed seismic concerns. He adds that they restored both the wood and brick, and the only new material brought to the site was a small amount of lightweight steel.
