Quinn Bar: Strikingly balanced | Architecture Now

Positioned within the remnants of a hall and bike storage unit of the previous 1924 division retailer at 131 Queen Avenue, this 75m2 venue by Izzard Design has been fully reimagined by Kate Dalton and Paul Izzard. Working for a shopper with a robust background in creating beloved Auckland venues like The Jefferson, which tragically closed as a result of Auckland floods, Izzard approached this challenge with a transparent imaginative and prescient to design a refined surroundings that felt something however confined.

Regardless of its small dimension, Quinn Bar was meticulously deliberate for performance, from Full Building’s renovations to the shopper’s operation technique. Partition partitions that separated the space for storing and hall had been eliminated, the loos had been strategically relocated, and the kitchen was scaled again to take away giant and pointless business kitchenware. These adjustments allowed the venue to take care of the utmost footspace for the bar and lounge. The streamlined back-of-house — made attainable by the venue providing mild meals and the choice of ordering meals from elsewhere — permits the workers to function effectively in tight quarters with out sacrificing the visitor expertise. 

Maybe essentially the most eye-catching ingredient of the bar is the moody but vivid use of color. Blue tones had been favoured for the twin capability to appease and excite. This tonal focus extends from the carpet seating areas and tiled walkways, wall remedies to upholstery. The principle lounge space contains a luxurious customized sales space seat, impressed by the long-lasting Nineteen Seventies de Sede Terrazzo couch. Upholstered in deep, wealthy blues, the sales space wraps the perimeter of the room and divides into two zones — one facet extra intimate with excessive sales space seating, the opposite extra open and playful with low sales space seating. This intelligent zoning permits company to make use of the house in any technique to swimsuit their temper. There’s a sense of depth and selection inside a single, steady house.

The cohesive materials choice units a tranquil, immersive backdrop to the star of the present, the RGB lighting system. The lighting seamlessly integrates into the architectural coves and ceiling fixtures. Because the night unfolds, the lighting imperceptibly shifts from cool, tranquil blues to hotter, extra intimate golden hues, mirroring the dynamic moods of a cocktail bar all through a night. For returning patrons, no two visits really feel the identical — each providing a barely completely different sensory expertise depending on their seating association or lighting on the time of arrival.

Customized polished chrome steel wall linings on the bar facet introduce a reflective high quality that performs with the lighting and multiplies the visible depth. The smooth vertical metal not solely references the Artwork Deco historical past of the constructing but in addition bounces mild in sudden methods, making the slim house really feel extra expansive. Mirrored table-tops create extra moments of depth and mirror the moody lighting, making objects positioned on the tables a bit of short-term artwork. Different design cues from the heritage web site had been woven into the trendy aesthetic. The present hexagonal columns had been retained and built-in into the sales space seating format. These historic components anchor the in any other case futuristic palette, placing a steadiness between outdated and new.

The design makes an impression. A latest customer to the bar acknowledged, “Quinn Bar was a heady combination of futuristic Tron-like lighting with an attractive Gatsby-esque sophistication.” 

With a complete capability of simply 30 patrons, Quinn Bar provides a sensory journey — a design-led hideaway the place structure, lighting and hospitality intertwine. It’s proof that daring concepts don’t want large areas. Quinn provides one thing uncommon: an expertise that feels each unique and alluring, intimate but expansive, nostalgic but new. An area prepared for any company’ expectations of a cocktail bar. 

Quinn Bar was the Hospitality winner within the 2025 Inside Awards.See the stay presentation from Paul Izzard right here. 

2025 Inside Award quotation

“A compact but placing hospitality challenge, Quinn Bar delivers originality and delight. Daring use of lighting and reflection creates a way of escapism with a delicate futuristic edge, whereas deco-inspired detailing pays tasteful homage to the constructing’s heritage. Quite a lot of thought has gone into the design, from the sculptural seating, which weaves by means of the house including softness and type, to the customized stainless-steel wall lining shocking with its shimmer, to the digitally managed, adaptable lighting including environment to the inside. Quinn Bar is an underground gem with persona to burn — immersive, expressive and unforgettable.”