Three years ago, architect Kamal Malik walked inside the 145-year-old ice factory located in one of the oldest dockyards of Ballard Estate and saw a grand old Banyan tree being strangled in the midst of all the shambles. “It was crying out in distress and the first thought that struck me was, ‘how do we save this tree?’ The thought led Kamal and his son Arjun Malik, also an architect, to think of the potential of this space to bring about a transformation.
In April 2022, the doors of IF.BE, a new architecture, design and arts space were thrown open to the public where the ice factory once stood. The 10,000 square feet of space houses multiple exhibition spaces, a café and a restaurant and the inaugural was marked with a two-week exhibition titled Refraction: The (Re)making of the Ice Factory curated by Arjun and Parul Thacker. Alongside that, there were film screenings, performances in music and dance, talks and audio-visual performances among others. The Banyan tree, Kamal is pleased to inform us, is alive again with life pulsating in its generous shade.
Creative hub
Kamal does not want to put any boundaries around the functionality of IF.BE, although he does draw the line at it being seen as an art gallery. Although they have specified architecture, design and the arts as an initial idea, Kamal along with his two partners Abhijit Mehta and Amardeep Tony Singh, hopes to create a space for creative people to come, hang out and to be able to work in collaboration with each other. “Architecture is not just about buildings; it’s about life. There could be an art film being shown in one corner, while a lecture is happening in another area. Somebody could be having a show of their sculptures while someone could be sketching in another corner. This space is an organism, it will find a life of its own,” he adds.
While the acronym IF.BE (Ice Factory.Ballard Estate) pays homage to the location’s rich industrial heritage, ‘If’ can also allude to the various possibilities the space offers while ‘Be’ is the counterweight that provides balance and solutions.
Past merges with present
The industrial space belonged to a Parsi family and cubes of ice were still being made in one corner of the factory when Kamal first visited it. “When I first walked in, I was fascinated by the way the old roofs in Burma wood were drawing in the north light. It is a stimulating space as far as an architect is concerned,” he recalls. Apart from a small office space, the rest of it, as he calls it, was ‘shanty town’.
Giving the erstwhile ice factory a renewed lease of life was a task that Kamal took up gladly. With their practice based on values of sustainability, they ensured that they used each and everything found in the building. The past merged with the present as every bit of wood and old bricks lying there found its use again. Even the functioning overhead crane was maintained. Old cooling coils meant for making ice were preserved under glass at the entrance, giving the space a museum-like quality.
Fluidity in design
IF.BE’s piece de resistance is unmistakably the Banyan tree which is visible right as you step inside its cool interiors. On the left is the Substation which earlier housed electric transformers. It’s a space that can be used for exhibitions, lectures and more. The courtyard leads one to the Banyan Tree Café on the right which is committed to wholesome and healthy eating. Another exhibition space is the Cathedral while The Ice Factory is the largest of all, offering itself to performances, conferences, architecture-led exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and private events. A flight of stairs leads one to Native Bombay, a 90-seater fine dine restaurant serving pan-Indian cuisine.
IF.BE has been designed to be fluid so the spaces can be reconfigured depending on the nature of the event or performance.
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