Completed / Design

MILLK: Play Cafe Spa

Walk through the streets of Lower Parel, Mumbai and you are sure to stop and have a look at a building that stands out from the rest, thanks to its peculiar façade. MILLK a controlled public space in the busy city of Mumbai, consists of a play area for kids, a café and a spa for adults. The challenge was to engage people in a design that could incorporate activities of such contrasting characters. Spaces had to be isolated to retain their character, yet stay connected to the main spine that held the design together.

The exterior of the building (originally a mill) was reimagined as a dynamic façade constructed using low-cost steel rods and lightweight plates. A visitor at the entry is thus greeted with the dancing metal plates which enhances the fluidity of the design. The rigidity of the solid square shape is broken by the curved walls that flow in the interiors. Most of the interior spaces are separated by these walls thus removing the requirement of doors or other conventional separators. Horizontal slits at strategic locations on the walls enhance the visual continuity of the space.