PAMM Cucuyo Café

Project Details

Project Description

In the true spirit of innovation, Berenblum Busch Architects (BBA) has pushed the boundaries of 3D printing with its ground-breaking design for Cucuyo: an outdoor café for the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) that implements the design liberties characteristic of small-scale 3D printing.

Berenblum Busch Architects received an AIA Miami Design Award for PAMM Cucuyo Café on October 27 at the AIA Design Awards Gala at the Olympia Theater. The AIA Miami Merit Award of Excellence for design detail recognized original architecture for the use of material, detail or building technology. The project team at BBA included Gustavo Berenblum, AIA, Principal; Claudia Busch, Assoc. AIA, Principal; Renate Paris, Assoc. AIA, Project Manager and Designer; and Matthew Wassala, Assoc. AIA, Project Designer.

Cucuyo was commissioned by STARR Catering Group to serve as a mobile outdoor café/bar that blurs the lines between art and function. Situated on the museum’s expansive covered terrace facing Biscayne Bay, Cucuyo simultaneously contrasts and complements the Herzog and de Meuron-designed museum.

Named after summer childhood memories of catching glowing click beetles in the backyard, the cocoon shaped café was manufactured by Amsterdam-based MX3D using innovative 3D printing technology. A number of fabrication options, including fiberglass and wood, were explored for the full-scale prototype before the architects made the decision to work with stainless-steel and collaborated with MX3D.

“We approached this as a site-specific structure that needed to serve a practical purpose while complementing the architecture surrounding it.” Commented Claudia Busch, Principal at Berenblum Busch Architects, adding “Cucuyo was undoubtedly influenced by the context, but most importantly it was created with the human experience in mind, and that fact is evident in every element of the design.”

The project evolved through an experimental design process exploring new types of structure and form. Early studies for Cucuyo were constructed in-house by Berenblum Busch Architects using a small 3D printer.