Mumbai's new Bad Cafe designed by NUDES architecture firm created an undulating black skin, made up of 25,992 recycled pvc electrical conduits. Situated in a historical village settlement in Bandra West in Mumbai -which has morphed in recent times due to socio-economic pressures and increasingly high land costs- the project is accessible by foot and cycle from parking zones in close proximity. 

NUDES inspired by human skin and sees it as an anatomical barrier in bodily defense from pathogens and damage between the internal and external environment. ''It also contains nerve endings that react to touch, pressure, vibration, tissue injury, heat and cold,'' said NUDES designers.

Remotely located from traffic snarls and insulated from typically high levels of air and sound pollution, the project is sheathed in tranquility and peace. The dynamic 'skin', all of 25,992 black cylindrical conduits grafted into CNC’d aluminum composite box panels with acupuncture-like precision shares a peaceful co-existence with its neighbors, its presence 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 thereby reinforcing the relationship between the inside and outside, between body and soul. Rough tactile 'true to material' textures draped in a striking 'black' and 'black' composition complete the user experience.

Since the BAD Cafe also offers Yoga facilities inside, the studio delves into the meaning of Yoga by explaining that ''there are several compound words containing yoga in Sanskrit. Yoga can take on meanings such as 'connection', 'contact', 'union', 'method', 'application', 'addition' and 'performance'.'' 

''In simpler words, Yoga also means, "Combined". For example, gunáyoga means "contact with a cord". Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline, the BAD experience is all of the above and much more. Designed as a tactile, sensory experience the project harbors a range of hybrid activities,'' said NUDES designers.''

''The BAD Yoga project has 25,992 recycled pvc electrical conduitsgrafted onto its anatomy with surgical precision,'' added the designers.

Project Facts

Architect: NUDES

Client: BAD Cafe

Location: Bandra West, Mumbai

Type: Hospitality

Status: Completed

All images courtesy of NUDES

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