Thirsty work: new bar projects

With the drinks market offering ever more specialist and niche products, bar owners are also increasingly trying to create unique and memorable design experiences for their customers.

By Bryan O'Sullivan Studio and Peter Smisek

December 17, 2019 | 11:00 pm CUT

The Bryan O'Sullivan Studio designed Berkeley Bar and Terrace's bold, sculptural form is inspired by Brutalist and Art Deco architecture. Photo: James McDonald

The consumption of alcohol is falling across much of the Western world as millennials shift from quantity to quality. So it is with bars, and since the decor is as important as the beverages on offer – at least to the Instagram generation – the latest crop of watering holes is increasingly sophisticated and glamorous.

Graham Baba Architects combine opulent furnishings and finishes and create an eccentric ambience with cabinet curiosities in Seattle's Deep Dive bar. Photos: Haris Kenjar

In Seattle, Deep Dive is no ordinary dive bar. Inspired by Charles Darwin's voyages and Jules Verne's fantasy travelogues, Graham Baba Architects have created an eclectically furnished space full of dark tones. Think navy banquettes, dark wood panelling, a curving, green marble bar and a ceiling covered in hanging steel ribbons. A smaller space to the side of the bar called the 'library' features rugs, plush armchairs and a collection of antiques lining the shelves.

With Malt & Juniper's clever spatial arrangement over two floors and pared-back furnishings, Sans-Arc Studio have created a bar combining openness with intimacy. Photos: Brendan Homan

More restrained, if equally theatrical, Sans-Arc Studio-designed Malt & Juniper is a whiskey and gin bar in Adelaide, Australia, featuring an oversized open-backed bar shelf with a four-metre high ladder and yet another dark green marble counter. The seating, located along the space's perimeter on the ground floor and a set-back mezzanine combines green leather banquettes, dark stained wood, subtle lighting scheme, plants, and textured white stucco, creating a sense of intimacy with a direct connection to the dramatic centrepiece.

Bryan O'Sullivan Studio's Berkeley Bar and Terrace also contains The Snug, an intimate room with a mural by New York artist TM Davy, its own sound system and a call-for-service button, which can be used for more private occasions. Photos: James McMcDonald

The Berkeley Bar and Terrace, designed by Bryan O'Sullivan Studio in central London, is another eclectic yet bright space which delights in historical references. The bar's bold, sculptural form is inspired by Brutalist and Art Deco architecture, while the panelling consists of thick, dark stained slats and walnut veneer from a 300-year old tree that was felled during a storm in 2007. A stucco frieze runs around the perimeter of the bar, while a subtle palette of coral and light green ties the space together.

The LAX Bar is Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Robert Schwarz and Lukas Stopczyncki's surreal transformation of a Loos original, which functioned as a temporary event space, hosting art-focussed gatherings. Photos: Ute Müller

And finally, Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Robert Schwarz and Lukas Stopczyncki's LAX Bar in Vienna is an art installation whose proportions and layout, if not materiality, are inspired by the classic Loos Bar in the Austrian capital. Completely covered in white tiles, the bar does away with Loos' sumptuous materiality, concentrating on the space itself. Its dimensions are identical to the original, apart from a lower ceiling, which means that the volume of the music from the loudspeakers has been transposed down by the same ratio.

Thirsty work: new bar projects

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