Typology: Heritage Conservation Project
Client: Hamilton Studios Pvt. Ltd.
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Status: Phase I – Completed
Project Link : Hamilton Studios
Collaborators
HAMILTON STUDIOS, MUMBAI
The Hamilton Studios – is an interior refurbishment and restoration project, aimed at safeguarding Mumbai’s oldest photography studio. while renewing its historic spaces for contemporary uses.
Working for the Hamilton studios was never about restoring an old space. It was about how to mediate with an institution whose very identity has been shaped by its practice: the light, portraiture, composition, and memory for a century.
Located inside the stone corridors of Ballard Estate’s historic E.D. Sassoon Building, Hamilton Studios has quietly documented generations of Mumbai since 1928. Today, the studio is run by Ms. Ajita Madhavji, carrying forward the legacy of her father, the pioneering photographer Sir Ranjit Madhavji.
The Studio houses an archive of over six lakh negatives– including the iconic portrait of B.R. Ambedkar, early images of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and many others. The studio remains a timeless witness to the city’s evolving history. Here, every portrait is still carefully prepared rather than rushed.
Partially completed in 2025, this project was one of the earliest and formative works of the practice in the city. Guided by the extraordinary photographic eye of Ms. Ajita Madhavji, we looked at the space as a photographer might, considering light and shadow, frame and depth, foreground and background. – Can go in the coloured segment.
CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Central to the vision was ensuring that this rich character and historical legacy remained visible within a working studio of the present. The process became a profound lesson in observing before intervening; learning how to reveal without overpowering, and how to introduce the new without losing sight of the old.
The Yellow Room; acts as a threshold between movement and gathering. Neither merely a corridor nor a room of pause, it forms the studio’s connective heart. It retains its original rhythm of wall panelling, arched windows, and chequered floors. A restrained warm yellow and white palette allows light to travel freely, while visible services quietly acknowledge the building’s evolving life. Ultimately, these rooms show that conservation begins with learning how to gracefully acknowledge what is already there.
CONSERVATION - THE BLUE ROOM
The Blue Room; for decades, the blue room was the space for waiting and anticipation with peculiar elements like –the old wall panelling, patterned stone floor, and familiar dark wooden chairs; these were carefully conserved to mark the beginning of the refurbishment.
The refurbishment began with looking closely, ensuring restoration and everyday life came together.
What changed was how the room is read. The earlier green gave way to a pale Hamilton blue, lighting was recalibrated, and photographs on display were thoughtfully composed. Nothing was made to look artificially old or stripped of its natural imperfections.
Not trying to recreate Hamilton Studios of 1928; we were looking for a way for its character, memory and photographic legacy to remain visible within a working studio of the present.
A lesson that has stayed with Five Cross Architects ever since:
Conservation begins with learning how to see. And perhaps, in photography as in architecture,
Sometimes you only get one shot – Make it a sure shot.
Recent Articles
In Khandala’s misty hills, an abandoned Gothic chapel hosts movie screenings and qawwali nights. - Abbey 301 on Condenast.
FCA_2026_50/16 Sep
“Inside a 200-year-old chapel near Mumbai, reimagined as an intimate arts venue” - The Hindu
FCA_2026_49/27 Feb