An arch. A fenestration. A scene. A composition. Film is a dynamic medium wherein time is collapsed into visual narratives—frame by temporal frame. Likewise, in architecture, elements inhabiting, within and beyond thresholds construe essential spatial scenographies. Both disciplines translate time into movements and spatial occupancies. Architecture has helped articulate many a cinematic composition as a backdrop or protagonist just as cinema has influenced, inspired and preserved aspects of urbanism, interiors and other design domains.

In the analogous relationship between the cinematic and the architectural, what structures are built and narrated, and how? Who controls the lens, as to what is framed and represented? What is the resulting dominant performance?

Frames of Reference

In less than two weeks, the acclaimed Architecture & Design Film Festival New York (ADFF) will make its much anticipated South Asian premiere presented by STIR in India, endowed with a trove of global cinematic showcases and a decorated multicultural programme centred on the multiple worlds begot and occupied by design and architecture.

Part of the multifaceted affair that is ADFF:STIR Mumbai is its Pavilion Park supported by JSW, which will unfurl in the open-air plaza and the experimental garden at National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) from January 10-12, 2025, with uniquely site-specific pavilions and installations that seek to energise, engage and activate.

Poised as the hub of public encounters during the design event’s three public days, the JSW Pavilion Park at ADFF: STIR Mumbai 2025 will feature a distinctly curated array of architectural pavilions and immersive installations deftly crafted by leading architects and designers from India and beyond, responding to the curatorial brief—Frames of Reference—conceived by STIR.

Much like art, fostering meaningful dialogue around design, architecture and new media is essential to inspiring innovation and pushing the boundaries of creativity. – Tarini Jindal Handa, MD JSW Realty

On view from January 10-12, 2025, these are conceived in collaboration with varied pavilion partners, becoming stages and spaces proffering more than one way of perceiving, engaging and responding. These ‘Frames of Reference’ will become tangible points of conversation and engagement during the design festival, allowing visitors to relax between the packed programme of film screenings and panels. The JSW Pavilion Park is pivoted on the idea of ‘framing’ in architecture and design and the cinematic frame itself.

"Partnering with STIR to present the JSW Pavilion Park at ADFF:STIR Mumbai offers a profound opportunity to bring global design insights to the cultural epicentre of Mumbai. Much like art, fostering meaningful dialogue around design, architecture and new media is essential to inspiring innovation and pushing the boundaries of creativity,” notes Tarini Jindal Handa, MD JSW Realty.

Can architectural space, virtual or real, fictional or functional, acquire a distinct cinematic dimension? Can a cinematic, ethereal image become the protagonist of built space? Can the ‘frame’ - cinematic and spatial, reinvent itself?” – Samta Nadeem, curatorial director, STIR

“The ADFF: STIR as a hybrid, cross-disciplinary space instigates a moving away from singular auteurship and authorship, to embody the collective social spirit in which cinema is experienced and enjoyed, architecture occupied, design utilised and technology leveraged,” elaborates Samta Nadeem, curatorial director, STIR, and the festival curator of ADFF: STIR Mumbai 2025, in the design brief to the creators. “Seeking an elemental and rather essential subversion of the maker-subject-object triarchy, ADFF: STIR seeks a response to the prompt, Frames of Reference, in a manner that is uniquely site-specific. The question is perspectival; the response, plural, rethinking the very agency of a cinematic lens, persuading the spectator to look inward in the search for these answers,” she continues.

These multiple ‘Frames of Reference’, glimpses of which follow, will be displayed for the duration of the festival which will see in attendance, Kyle Bergman, director and founder, ADFF, New York and Martino Stierli, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art New York.

“The pavilions articulating the JSW Pavilion Park manifest the creative coming together of the spatial and the cinematic in direct, philosophical, abstract and innovative ways, as points of contemplation and conversations, of inspiration and artistry, of pause and debate,” remarks Amit Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, STIR. “It is a variegated celebration of the intrinsic, intersectional relationship between design, architecture and film, one that is tangible and quite physically available to associate with here,” he continues.

[Tangible Frames]

SPASM Design Architects, led by Sangeeta Merchant and Sanjeev Panjabi, will unveil their pavilion supported by Jaipur Rugs and FCML. Its title is a warning, a plea and a clear reminder that There Is No Planet B. Their concept hinges on the narratives of film and architecture shaped through spatial and temporal frames, and through a light interplay of materials, which will express Indian architectural motifs while literally framing nature’s role in design.

Mumbai-based architecture, landscape and interior design studio SHROFFLEóN in partnership with Jindal Stainless will showcase Ananta, a play on the Indian baoli. Headed by Maria I Jimenez-Leon and Kayzad R.Shroff, the studio flips the distinct morphology of the traditional Indian stepwell on its axis to create an immersive ‘time-space glitch’ articulated in stainless steel at the JSW Pavilion Park. 

Supported by the Saraf Foundation, UHA will present Stack, a pavilion that will ‘disallow monocular storytelling, instead inviting storytelling through a plurality of lenses.’ A central screening space displaying 10 short documentaries by Mumbai filmmakers will be surrounded by framed volumes displaying fragments from these stories.

Supported by Artize, Ahmedabad-based firm Matharoo Associates with its principal architect Gurjit Singh Matharoo will display UN-WRAP, a freestanding structure with curved walls, celebrating light, shadow, and changing perspectives. Its open-to-sky design will offer glimpses of the surroundings, while a pivoting door reveals a secondary space, evoking cinematic movement, unfolding drama and a sense of discovery.

[Abstract Frames]

The Five Virtues by Supraja Rao, an architect, interior designer, art curator and gallerist, principal and creative head of Design House by Supraja Rao and the founder of Kadari Art Gallery in collaboration with Shabnam Gupta, founder of The Orange Lane; Swanzal Kak Kapoor, an architect and civic activist, and the design principal and co-founder at Saka studio; Apoorva Shroff, founder and principal architect, Lyth Design; and Quirk Studio led by interior designers Disha Bhavsar and Shivani Ajmera, will present a contemporary interpretation of the Pandavas through a feminist design lens. The lighting design for the showcase is done by Kanchan Puri, founder, KSA Lighting Designers.

The collaborative design installation is mounted on platforms clad in Neolith with ValueLine as the supporting partner, and the object production is supported by FTS By Sharmilee. The showcase promises to bridge mythology and design, and celebrate timeless archetypes in a modern, immersive context.

With founding partners Rajiv Parekh, Ekta Parekh and partner Maithili Raut, reD Architects will be Powering Passion at the film festival, as a tribute to the Indian Constitution’s Preamble and its core values. Supported by Jaquar, the installation reflects the effort one is willing to put in those values of democracy being a perpetual work-in-progress, reaching results through an intangible, non-measurable medium in a theatrical world.

Contemporary artist Vibhor Sogani, known for his large-scale public art installations including Sprouts in New Delhi and Joy in the UAE presents Tidal Tango, replete with mirror-finish stainless steel elements which refract onto itself endlessly. The sculptural installation asks visitors to ponder the minute rhythms and harmonies of life, repeated everyday in similar patterns. Mimicking the ebb and flow of the ocean’s waves, it embodies a symphonic dynamism; a convergence between power and serenity; the sublime in the mundane.

Other pavilions in the line-up include Dialogue by Indian architect Sandeep Khosla, founder and principal of Khosla & Anand (formerly Khosla Associates) and graphic designer Tania Singh Khosla, founder and creative director of TSK Design; In partnership with ICA Pidilite, Manish Gulati, principal architect, M:OFA Studio and production designer Shruti Gupte, founder of Shruti Gupte Designs will proffer a Walk of Frames; Interdisciplinary design company LOCO Design led by Parminder Pal Singh will urge via its installation aptly named Conserve, where ‘waste is made beautiful.’

“At JSW Realty, we are steadfast in our commitment to crafting spaces that harmoniously weave together authenticity, heritage and craftsmanship with modern innovation and relevance. The JSW Pavilion Park stands as a testament to these values, embodying the vision of pioneering designers who are redefining India’s design narrative. We extend our heartfelt wishes to this edition of the Architecture and Design Film Festival and look forward to its role in enriching Mumbai’s design and cultural landscape," Handa concludes, echoing the endeavour, and the overall festival’s underlying sentiment. 

For more information, visit the ADFF:STIR Mumbai website for key highlights of the festival, including the 20+ films, 10 cinematic pavilions, special projects the ~log(ue) programme, media and press coverage and more. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for ADFF:STIR Mumbai 2026.