....

As one enters the Sea Face Park complex today, it is not hard to imagine it as a venue of high-glamour and intellectual mystery — Vijaylaxmi Pandit spent time in one of its flats too. Constructed in 1938 by the architecture firm Master, Sathe and Bhuta, rising stars on the Indian architecture scene, it was, in fact, the first residential complex of its kind. Theirs was a deeply influential firm, and one that sought to challenge many old notions tied to the practice of architecture in India. Looking to experiment, they explored new languages and Sea Face Park, which was conceived as a block of rental flats, a fairly new idea at the time, reflected this ingenuity in its contemporary design.

Architects Master and Sathe would meet on long commutes between Bombay and Ahmedabad, where they were working on projects for their respective firms, and spend those long journeys discussing the potential for radical architectural practices in the country. In the early 1930s, newly graduating architects still had to process their official paperwork through the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London. Master and Sathe met with Bhuta during late-night meetings at the Sathe house, and together, decided to set up a firm that sought to pull apart this attachment to empire.

....