Ambient lighting brings heat to a pared-back inside scheme contained in the Bar Ton listening bar in Bucharest, Romania, created by native designers Anda Zota and Muromuro Studio.
Set on the bottom flooring of a communist-era house block in Bucharest, the house beforehand functioned as a music store earlier than being tailored right into a hi-fi bar.
Bar Ton’s inside was supposed to be a recent reinterpretation of the constructing’s socialist-modernist type, mixing its historic context with trendy performance.
“We wished to pay homage to the constructing itself,” stated Muromuro Studio.
“It was the primary socialist-modernist constructing from the communist period that originated in Bucharest and never Moscow, so when it was constructed it was a landmark of Romanian modernism,” the studio continued.
“We tried to maintain as a lot of the constructing as structurally intact as potential – we stored the flooring and the pillars, plus you’ve the unique facade and finishings.”
Materiality was a key focus of the design, with tough, textured components akin to uncooked concrete partitions and marble mosaic flooring contrasted in opposition to extra refined finishes just like the polished chrome steel bar and birch plywood detailing.
The mixture of supplies culminates in a minimalist, utilitarian house, that goals to additionally “evoke a way of heat and ease”.
Whereas the constructing’s facade partitions could not be altered, a folding, mechanical glass wall with metallic framing was added.
This dynamic function was designed to extend the connection between the within and out of doors, encouraging interplay with the encircling neighbourhood.
“It turned the ‘residing facade’ as a result of everytime you cross by you see individuals sitting on the bench and transferring round – it is the primary layer of curiosity and makes you wish to see what’s inside” Zota advised Dezeen.
Restrictions attributable to current structural options influenced the inside format, with 4 massive concrete pillars extending via the centre of the house, in addition to a concrete air flow shaft for the ground under left in place.
The designers coated two of the concrete pillars with polyurethane with a timber unit added between them to carry the primary DJ sales space.
The opposite two have been lined with oiled birch plywood and fitted with pockets to show information. In the meantime, the concrete air flow shaft was changed into a bench.
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In any other case, Bar Ton was designed to be a largely open-plan house, with the music program positioned at its centre and options such because the chrome steel bar and loos situated across the periphery.
“The purpose was to create an area that provides a communal listening expertise,” stated Muromuro Studio. “This resulted in us placing the music sales space proper on the centre of the house – in order that persons are round the focal point.”
“The overarching idea was about placing the music on the centre each bodily and conceptually,” added Zota.
In accordance with the designers, particular consideration was paid to the lighting design, which was developed in collaboration with Romanian model Greentek Lighting.
The adaptive lighting system has two totally different settings for day and evening that may be adjusted to swimsuit the temper. A custom-made lamp illuminates the central music program, lit in an orange hue at evening.
Zota defined that the goal was to create an inviting environment that prioritises the listening expertise, with lighting tailor-made to light up the house itself relatively than instantly illuminating the individuals inside it.
“We wished individuals to have the ability to cover and really feel out of focus to intimately expertise the house with out being highlighted,” stated Zota.
Giant beige drapes discreetly conceal the bar’s acoustic programs, with a “room-within-a-room” constructed utilizing a picket body. This acoustic panelling serves to scale back the potential echo and guarantee a excessive sound high quality, with round 37 cubic metres of sound insulation included in complete.
Constructed-in picket banquette seating wraps across the perimeter of the house, full with built-in picket tables.
Different listening bars lately featured on Dezeen embody a lounge-like hi-fi bar in London by EBBA and Charlotte Taylor and a monochrome pink bar in Sydney by Akin Atelier designed to really feel like being “inside a large speaker”.
The pictures is by Vlad Pǎtru and Andrei Vintilă.
