Led by Marina Martín and Alberto Eltini, El Departamento has designed the streetwear brand's new flagship at Alte Schönhauser Straße 28. The space is conceived as an aesthetic manifesto that engages in a dialogue with the complex cultural identity of the German capital, adapting Nude Project's provocative essence to the local context without losing its core identity. By eschewing normative minimalism, the interior architecture articulates a powerful visual universe where decadent opulence, daring materiality, and community experience converge.
Pleasure as infrastructure
To conceptualize the new store, El Departamento’s creative team began with an in-depth exploration of the local cultural context. The goal was to adapt the essence of Nude Project—often linked to the traditional Macho Ibérico archetype—into the Berlin imaginary. They found their answer in the "Typical German Alpha," personified by Rolf Eden. This actor, entrepreneur, and owner of Berlin's most iconic 70s and 80s nightclubs serves as the narrative thread for an aesthetic proposal dubbed "Nude Project Die Dynastie".
The project distances itself from the contemporary clichés of the city's nightlife, rescuing instead an older logic where clubs were meticulously controlled environments and luxury was assumed as a non-negotiable condition. Within this space, pleasure is treated as infrastructure: lighting, sound, and furniture operate as elements that regulate behavior and atmosphere. This translates into a carefully curated selection of materials that reclaims this vibe: heavy velvets, ubiquitous burl wood, densely patterned curtains, and carpets that build an irreverent, deliberately kitsch environment.
An immersive journey in three acts
The store's interior architecture is organized as a sequence of spaces with distinct visual identities. The journey begins in the Main Lounge, a reception area dominated by the extensive use of burl wood on the walls and furniture, evoking the retro luxury of past decades. Technical lighting and an imposing integrated speaker system take center stage. The brand's urban aesthetic bursts into the space through a large graffiti-style canvas positioned over the black counter. Simultaneously, its playful spirit materializes in elements such as an arcade machine and a large central display designed to mimic a constantly spinning vinyl record.
Passing through large red neon portals and under mirrored ceilings, the visitor enters The Library, conceived as a zone of transition and luxury. The flooring changes radically, introducing a green carpet with an exuberant botanical pattern. In this room, the studio has designed a custom fireplace inspired by vintage references, framing it between wooden shelving to bring a domestic scale to the space. Acting as more than just a decorative element, it cleverly conceals a radiator to provide real, functional warmth. Furthermore, the strategic use of mirrors on the ceilings and walls amplifies the richness of the textures, creating an immersive visual interplay.
The project's scenographic climax is reached at the back of the store, in The Forbidden Room. Here, extravagance reaches its highest expression in a room dyed an intense crimson red. The walls, upholstered in elegant brown vertical channel tufting, embrace a striking black grand piano that serves as an unexpected display table for garments—all crowned by a spectacular red crystal chandelier suspended from a mirrored ceiling. Irreverence also takes over the fitting room area, dubbed the "Ego Amplifier," where leopard-print carpeting and heavy velvet curtains contrast with messages of punk rebellion written on the mirrors. This is a direct nod to the subcultures and alternative scenes that have historically defined Berlin, seamlessly connecting with the free and transgressive spirit that forms the DNA of Nude Project.
