Hasta La Ideas

Reclaimed timber boards and sections of mesh fencing feature in this dimly-lit bar in Sydney by Australian studio Luchetti Krelle (+ slideshow).

Donny’s Bar, located in the northern beachside suburb of Manly, was designed by Sydney studio Luchetti Krelle to resemble a New York loft.

The bar serves a selection of Asian-inspired dishes, so the design team wanted to also incorporate Asian influences into the space to conjure up images of “a back alley in Chinatown”.

“The brief was to create a warm and friendly New York style loft bar which would serve Asian style tapas and dumplings – on a tight budget,” the designers explained. “Avoiding overt Asian theming, we instead opted for a pared-back approach to the design.”

A range of recycled materials were used to transform the stark space into a dark and atmospheric bar with exposed brick walls and concrete flooring throughout.

A polished copper counter forms a centrepiece in the downstairs bar area. Recycled timber boards and paving stones line the base of the counter, with lighting glowing through the spaces in between.

“The rustic quality of the timber contrasts with a shiny copper rectified top and perfectly mitred timber lining boards weaving diagonally across the lower ceiling and walls,” the designers added.

High tables and bar stools are set against the side walls, while worn leather armchairs, low tables and cushioned footstools are arranged next to a spiralling metal staircase.

Dozens of lights encased in small wire cages are suspended from the mesh-covered ceiling of the double-height space, creating a feature above the entrance.

On the mezzanine floor above, exposed brick and wood panels feature on some walls, while another features red Asian-style prints. Fluorescent lighting tubes illuminate the space and are covered by more sections of mesh wire.

Tables and chairs indicate a space for dining and are accompanied with seating booths tucked away in the corners.

Old toilet cisterns were incorporated into the bathroom, while light bulbs are fixed to a network of exposed pipes above the sinks.

Photography is by Michael Wee.

Here’s a project description from Luchetti Krelle:

Donny’s & Co Manly

Conjuring up images of a back alley in Chinatown, Donny’s Bar is an unexpected and refreshing change to the coastal suburb of Manly and the bar scene there. The design resolution captures a careful balancing of the rustic versus the refined – where urban meets with an Asian Australian flavour.

The existing space was a stark white plasterboard box with a commercial look and feel. The brief was to create a warm and friendly New York style loft bar which would serve Asian style tapas and dumplings – on a tight budget. Avoiding overt Asian theming, we instead opted for a paired back approach to the design.

Our client is from rural NSW and we certainly played on his roots with the barn like scale and proportions of the space. The mezzanine is set back from the entry, allowing the volume of the space to be fully appreciated upon entry.

The bar front utilises railway sleepers casually bundled together with those adjustable ratchet straps used to tie down a load on a truck. The rustic quality of the timber contrasts with a shiny copper rectified top and perfectly mitred timber lining boards weaving diagonally across the lower ceiling and walls.

Canvas lorry tarps are casually tied off to walls and chain-link fencing stretches across the upper ceiling, screening the acoustic treatment from the eye. Recycled materials play a big role in the palette – from the brickwork painstakingly clad to the walls to the re-birthed old toilet cisterns.

When budgets are tight we need to work harder to innovate within our means and this project is an excellent example of such. More and more these days, we designers are being held to account for superfluous spending and budget overruns. We worked hard to nut out this concept and edit it back to its bare bones. We have been creative and clever in the use of every day materials like the chain-link fencing to become features and by using recycled timber and brick for the majority of the palette.

This design is sustainable – both in our design approach and its potential for longevity as a thriving small bar in Manly.

The post Luchetti Krelle completes atmospheric Sydney
bar based on a New York loft appeared first on Dezeen.

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German firm Buero Wagner has designed a bar for mixology company Gamsei with ceramic bottles of ingredients hanging from a metal grid on the ceiling (+ slideshow).

Munich-based Gamsei specialises in using foraged and locally sourced ingredients for their cocktail blends.

The brand wanted to encourage drinkers to watch the barmen mixing their cocktails, so Buero Wagner designed seating as two sets of solid oak steps that rise to meet two opposing walls, while the bar tenders make the drinks at two bars in the middle.

“Gamsei is a wholly integrated concept that turns the event of drinking a cocktail into a novel experience,” said Buero Wagner.

“By eliminating the common separation of bartender and guest, here the interaction is key and everybody has a front row seat: from either side guests can enjoy a view onto the two centrally placed bars,” the designers added.

An oak cupboard and shelving unit covers the whole of the far wall, part of which opens up as a hidden door into the bathroom.

Oak shutters can be pushed up to reveal the coffee machine and the many shelves are used to store dried leaves, herbs and white ceramic bottles full of Gamsei’s self-made liqueurs, syrups and essences.

These bottles also hang in neat lines from a black steel mesh covering the celling.

Just like Gamsei’s drinks, the wood, steel and ceramic used for the bar were all locally sourced.

Gamsei opened in 2013 and is owned and founded by Australian bartender Matthew Bax.

The Buero Wagner designers who completed this project were Fabian A. Wagner and Andreas Kreft.

Here’s a project description from the designers:

GAMSEI

Sex on the Beach, Cosmopolitan, White Russian. A cocktail bar is usually rated by the quality of the classic drinks (and their modern adaptations), but those who hope to get a taste of them at Gamsei, may either look elsewhere, or dare find out what a Lavender Drunk Bee is made of.

Juniper schnapps, verjuice, lavender honey. When owner and head bartender Matthew Bax opened Gamsei 2013 in Munich’s trendy neighbourhood Glockenbach, he introduced hyper-localism to a field of practice which had until then been mainly confined to the food scene.

At Gamsei, ingredients for cocktails like Lavender Drunk Bee, Mid-Life Crisis and Frühlingserwachen, are either wildly foraged by Bax and his team or grown by local artesian farmers, thus reestablishing a connection with local products, region and culture and offering something that is unique in its kind.

Bax, an Australian artist and founder of three bars among which award winning bar Der Raum in Melbourne envisioned his fourth as an antidote to the globalisation of cocktail bars; why drink the very same cocktail in every bar you go to in the world? Why not experience the excitement of the new when sipping a cocktail?

The bar interior, designed and executed by Fabian A. Wagner of Buero Wagner (Munich, Germany) with Andreas Kreft, is a clear continuation of this philosophy – looking for surprising configurations whilst paying a tribute to the local Bavarian culture and craftsmanship.

The ambience of a typical Bavarian beer hall has been applied to the 40m² interior through amphitheater-style benches against opposing walls thus eliminating the common separation of bartender and guest, here interaction is key and everybody has a first row seat: from either tribune guests enjoy a view onto the two centrally placed bars and follow how Bax and his team mix, shake and stir up the cocktails. Also the bars have been stripped of all boundaries: workspace and bar are one.

Dried flowers, herbs and leaves are stored and displayed in a wooden built-in cupboard that stretches the full length of the back wall; Besides ingredients, also the coffee machine and even the doors to the bathrooms and laboratory are seamlessly integrated and can be flexibly displayed or disguised behind lattices. Tribunes, bars and cupboards are executed in solid oak with a natural oil finish.

White ceramic bottles are suspended from a black steel mesh attached to the ceiling, which contain self-made liqueurs, syrups and essences, in-between which light bulbs make for a reduced lighting scheme by night. Just like Bax’s cocktail ingredients, Buero Wagner procured all materials such as wood, ceramics (custom-made by Gefäß & Objekt) and steel locally, and worked in close collaboration with local carpenters and manufacturers to produce custom-made solutions.

Gamsei is a wholly integrated concept that turns the event of drinking a cocktail into a novel experience. The refreshing take on the cocktail bar extends further: bartenders, dressed in uniform leather aprons, serve their guests an amuse-gueule such as “Biersand”, after taking their coats upon entering, and the tribunes on either side – to be climbed only without shoes – allow for sports broadcasts.

The post Buero Wagner suspends bottles of foraged
ingredients from ceiling of cocktail bar appeared first on Dezeen.

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