In the increasingly cosmopolitan suburb of Bandra, Mumbai, Birdsong Café is a pleasant throwback to the village heritage of the area, designed with a wistful nostalgia by studio eight twentythree. Architect Samir Raut kept the project sympathetic, echoing the building materials of the neighbouring properties and limiting the intervention to wood and concrete.
Samir is interested in the way the two materials age, and in the choice of retro fittings inside, there is a sense that Birdsong has been there for a long time, and could be there for many more, too. Little touches like 1970s plastic switches contribute to the dated allure. On a larger scale, the front façade archways are a great way to open things up, glazed and clad with double hinged shutters. Inside, a nifty little reclaimed teak mezzanine creates a private space or a performance platform. The lighting is an adaptable feature in the main room; bare bulbs in salvaged wooden holders are suspended from wires that fix to the ceiling via hooks, so they can be reconfigured in new arrangements. The menu is also changeable, and new additions and alterations are expected to the hand-drawn graphics on the back wall, adding to the patina.
