NUDES covers the bad café in mumbai with a rippling skin of plastic cylinders

in mumbai, india, NUDES design studio has peppered the façade of the bad café with 25,992 recycled pvc electrical conduits, creating a surreal, undulating and thoroughly modern exterior for the multi-purpose location. designed by NUDES founder nuru karim in collaboration with bad café owners amit & bhavna dhanani, the bristling surface of the building is inspired by the anatomical make-up of human skin, and its function as a connector between human bodies.

the dynamic ‘skin’, all of 25,992 black cylindrical conduits grafted into CNC’d aluminum composite panel

black cylindrical conduits grafted into CNC’d aluminum composite box panels completely obscure the exterior of the building, creating a mesmerizing, almost organic skin over the café. NUDE’s perforated design is intended to emulate the various ways the human body interacts and reads the world around it; through tastebuds, hair, fingertips and so on. light travels down each individual tube with surprising ease, creating a bright, calming interior space. the striking black and white aesthetic of the bad café is continued inside, where NUDE focuses on rough, tactile, ‘true to material’ textures, generating a sparse and simple design.

the bad café extends over three levels and is home to a yoga studio, café, retail space and open terrace courtyard. 

it’s presence is gradually unveiled as one meanders through the narrow by-lanes of the historical urban fabric.

the porous, perforated nature of the skin allows the project to breathe and ventilate

the project houses hybrid activities such as a café, yoga, event space and retail space

The architectural program was designed to facilitate cultural event spaces for music, art, performances and more 

the first floor transforms into a yoga space from 7am to 1pm

the recycled skin reinforces the relationship between the inside and outside

rough, tactile, ‘true to material’ textures draped in a striking black and white composition

exploded axonometric

co-ordinate system of a single component

sections