A day at home in Aira

Aira's catalogue does not sell a pool or a sky lounge. It sells a flat that works: closed kitchens, separate laundries, insulated walls, a front door with a private threshold. The best way to understand what that means is to follow a day in one.

Morning

The alarm goes off, and the phone is charging on the bedside table rather than on the floor, because Aira's bedrooms have power points on both sides of the bed. It is a small thing, and in a shared bedroom it saves a daily argument about extension leads.

Breakfast is cooked in a kitchen with a door. Aira's kitchens are closed. The smell of eggs, coffee or last night's curry stays where it was made, and the living room is still the living room when a colleague calls on video. A load of washing goes on in the laundry area, which is its own space rather than a corner of the bathroom.

At the front door, shoes go into the rack in the entrance, which the developer planned for privacy. From the corridor, a neighbour sees a door, not your hallway.

The middle of the day

Hulhumalé is the planned island across the bridge from Malé. The concierges describe it as the place with wider streets, parks, the beach and most of the new-build apartment developments. People who work in the capital go over the bridge. People who work on the island, or from home, stay put.

Working from home is where Aira's quieter details matter. The walls between flats are insulated, so the flat next door is not the soundtrack to a meeting. If a neighbour has a plumbing problem, the building was designed so that blocked toilets can be cleared without disturbing the flats around them. The outdoor air-conditioning units are placed so a technician can service them without drama. Maintenance at Aira is meant to be a knock on the door and a short visit, not a morning lost.

Evening

Dinner is the part of the day the design seems made for. The kitchen is closed, so whoever is cooking can make noise and smoke while the rest of the household sits in a living room that stays clean and quiet. The rooms were planned for both fixed and loose furniture, so the dining table has its own place and does not have to be pushed against a wall.

Later the building goes quiet. The main door is fire-retardant, and the party walls are insulated. That is what the insulation is for: children asleep on one side of a wall, a television on the other, and each household keeping its evening to itself.

Who it suits

Aira has two blocks, fifteen floors and ninety-four homes. The flats Binga has seen are family-sized. One was a 2+1 of 1,280 sq ft with three bathrooms, fully furnished, on the third floor, described in its listing as on the eastern waterfront and in an industrial-chic style; it has been let. Another is a fully furnished three-bedroom of 1,700 sq ft, available to rent now.

That suits households who cook, families with children on a sleep schedule, and anyone who works from home and needs quiet. It also suits relocating professionals who want a furnished home with good fundamentals rather than a showroom lobby. People for whom a pool or gym downstairs is essential should ask the concierge what the building offers. The catalogue does not list either, and the desk does not assume them.