studio hinge Wraps Concrete Columns in Timber to Grow a Reading Forest Inside Mumbai's Cricket Club of India

Most library renovations start by hiding the structure. studio hinge, led by principal architect Pravir Sethi, did the opposite at the Forest of Knowledge Library in Mumbai. The firm left the existing concrete columns on the third floor of the Cricket Club of India's 1930s Art Deco building in place and turned them into the main event. Each column is wrapped in a steel frame clad with small timber planks. Shelving is built into the frame, and the timber ribs branch upward into arches that meet across the ceiling. The result is a canopy that you read beneath, not a set of obstacles you work around.

The forest metaphor could easily have become a theme-park gesture. It holds up because the studio connected it to measurable decisions. No open shelf rises above 1.2 metres, so most adults can see across the room while standing. The windows on the east and north facades were enlarged, and much of the glazing opens. The floor plate is arranged so that daylight and air can reach the middle of the room. The concept took shape during India's severe COVID lockdowns, and the plan carries that background: it is built for people to sit near one another and talk.

Columns Recast as Trunks

The key move is structural honesty dressed in a gentler material. The concrete stays where it was, and the added steel frames carry the timber cladding and the shelves. This is a sensible way to treat an existing building. You keep the load path and avoid demolition. You also get a reading room organised around fixed points instead of a grid of shelving that could have been placed anywhere.

Planters of broad-leaved plants at the base of some trunks push the image close to literal. We think the slatted cladding and the circle of wooden flooring around each column already make the point. Still, the plants soften a club interior that could otherwise feel too finished, and the close-up views show detailing that is tight and well resolved.

A Canopy Drawn from the Street

The ceiling takes its cue from the ficus and gulmohar trees on the street outside. It is the project's only direct local reference, and it is a good one. From inside, the timber ribs and the lattice panels between them frame the real trees through the windows. The arches meet in a radiating, star-like pattern above each column. Where they come together, the wooden lattice fills the gaps and gives the room a dappled overhead texture without lowering the ceiling.

The material story is less tidy. The windows are yellow cedar and the furniture is western hemlock, both FSC-certified and imported. The studio states openly that native, sustainably harvested timber is hard to source in India. That candour deserves credit. It also exposes a supply-chain gap that Indian practices will need to close before timber interiors at this scale can claim a fully local footing.

Shelves Kept Below Eye Level

The 1.2-metre limit does more work than any other decision here. Adults get sightlines across the room and daylight that reaches the core of the plan. Children get something else: the gaps between the circular shelves form a low, almost labyrinthine landscape to explore. The children's aisle, with timber ribs overhead and planter-topped shelving at arm's height, is scaled for a small reader.

Underfoot, custom terrazzo with a green leaf pattern carries the canopy idea down to the floor. Bands of sunlight move across it during the day. It is a modest detail, and it keeps the concept present without asking the furniture to do all the work.

Windows That Do Real Work

Seating runs along the perimeter, so the best seats sit at the glass. The studio enlarged the openings, cleared the space in front of them and made a large share of the windows operable. Facing east and north avoids Mumbai's harsh south-west glare. The studio says the changes cut reliance on artificial light and mechanical ventilation. That claim is plausible for a room that now breathes through two facades.

The built-in desks and the green window seat set inside a half-round arch are the most intimate moments in the project. These spots let you see the actual canopy outside while sitting beneath the built one. The design shows its intent most clearly in these window bays.

From Zumba Studio to Common Room

A former Zumba studio is now a flexible room for book clubs, film screenings and workshops. Herringbone timber, arched windows, a mirrored wall and lime green chairs give it a lighter character than the main library. The mirror is a trace of the dance studio, and keeping it was a smart choice: it doubles the daylight and the view.

This room is what turns a reading floor into a social one. For a members-only club, the programming matters as much as the architecture, and the studio has given the club a space flexible enough to keep the library active after reading hours.

Plans and Drawings

The plan shows circular reading pods along a central boulevard. The reflected ceiling plan shows how the radiating ribs over each column form a continuous field. The exploded axonometrics are especially useful: they separate the trunk, the ring and spiral shelves, the branch framing and the floating lattice panels. Read together, the drawings make the logic plain. Every tree is the same kit of parts, which explains how a strongly figurative interior stays buildable.

Why This Project Matters

Indian cities hold a large stock of old institutional buildings with sound structure and dated interiors. This project offers a repeatable approach: keep the frame, wrap it with intent and let the existing grid set the spatial order. The forest image is easy to share on social media, but the real lessons are the 1.2-metre shelf rule, the east and north glazing and the decision to give the windows back to readers.

The project also leaves an open question for the profession. If native certified timber is hard to find in India, then beautiful timber interiors will keep relying on imports. The concept here is rooted in a Mumbai street, while the material comes from forests far away. Closing that gap is the next design problem, and it extends well beyond any single library.

Forest of Knowledge Library by studio hinge (principal architect Pravir Sethi), Mumbai, India, completed in 2023. Photography by Saurabh Suryan.

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