International firm Serie Architects have just completed The Tote - a restaurant and bar complex in Mumbai which has also picked up a nomination from the 2010 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards in the international category.

A series of disused buildings from Mumbai’s colonial past set within the Mumbai Race Course were converted to form a series of restaurant and bars. The conservation guidelines called for the preservation of the roof profile for three-quarters of the buildings and full conservation for the remaining one-quarter.

The interesting aspect of the site, however, lies not in the colonial buildings but in the open spaces covered by mature Rain Trees. These spaces are shaded throughout the year by the wide spread leaves of the trees, allowing almost the entire proposed program to occur outdoors.

Serie's proposal attempts to continue this idea of a continuously differentiated space, with no clear boundary, into the envelope of the conservation building and the new structure is proposed within the old building envelope.

We're loving this plant-like roof structure; doesn't it remind you of the Bouroullec’s Vegetal Chairs?