Best of Year: Bar/Lounge

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 12/1/2010 6:06:00 PM

Project: Numero
Firm: Isay Weinfeld
Location: Sao Paolo, Brazil

Numerical typesetting blocks, supersized in laser-cut marine plywood resin-coated in dark colors, announce­ this lounge in the ritzy Jardins district. From a front garden planted with tropical grasses, a sound track of bossa nova and alternative rock lures patrons up a stainless-steel ramp that extends into a long entry lined in bronze-coated mirror. This tunnellike procession de­posits them in a small vestibule where two choices emerge. Proceed straight ahead, where leather-covered sofas and stools and galvanized-steel tables and ottomans furnish a moodily lit lounge that steps down in sections, under a gray-carpeted ceiling that continually rises. Or take the limestone stairs down to the private room. Here, color-changing LEDs, recessed in round ceiling cutouts, cast a glow on sidewalls papered with a collage of vintage poster fragments—and caipirinhas wash down tuna tartare. Both levels terminate at window walls facing a back garden paradisial with jasmine, orchids, and palms.

Merit Winners:


Project: Republic Gastropub
Firm: Elliott + Associates Architects
Location: Oklahoma City
Standout: Flat-screen TVs are the only standard fare in a sports bar with coated glass “bubble walls” and a terrazzo floor, sheltered by a sharply cantilevered roof.


Project: Bar Pleiades
Firm: Rottet Studio
Location: New York
Standout: In the Surrey hotel, a black-and-white lacquered wall and tufted faux-suede upholstery reference­ Chanel makeup compacts and handbags.


Project: Colony
Firm: ICrave
Location: Los Angeles
Standout: The lifeguard stand out front announces this nightclub’s Hamptons beach theme, picked up by the mural in the boutique nook selling the work of artists and designers.