Considering Bar Interior Design
Bar Interior Design
We need to connect with strangers and re-connect with friends in a place where the vibe is great and the ambiance is brimming with life and leisure. Weekends and summer are the perfect times to frequent these places when people program their minds to think about fun and exciting activities; to dance and party at the hottest clubs in town and to check out hip and newly-opened bars. It is a wonder though how some of these places stay popular and fully packed each Friday night and others change their names or owners after just a short time and close up eventually.
Starting clubs and bars, like all other business ventures, is risky. There are a lot of factors to be weighed and considered if one of these establishments is going to prosper. The owner must know his target market; what age group will be interested in the place, the social status of the people it will attract, and the focus of the bar, which could be the food, the selection and presentation of drinks or the kind of entertainment it will provide, or all of the above. When all of these factors have been analyzed and considered, the next step will be to find out what will make this bar or club stand out from the rest at the onset and what will help it sustain its luster on a long term basis. Advertising is a tool to introduce this bar to the public, however advertising without a concrete idea of the product is a futile task. What this bar needs first and foremost is an evidently fresh design; its own identity. This is what will create the ambiance of the place which in turn will determine if the bar is worth checking out or not. This is also where modern interior design can come into play.
Imagine a bar with a dining area and a dance floor. You need a huge space for these two main area requirements to fit in. Below are the bar interior design ideas that will come into play in this type of space.
- Spacious Bar lobby
This area should be interesting and well-designed because this will persuade the people to come and join the hyper-energetic vibe of the party going on inside. In most upscale clubs this is equal to an exquisitely luxurious hotel lobby with a grand staircase leading up to the main bar and dance area. Think red carpet and famous celebrities having their pictures taken by the media and local socialites mingling with the most fashionable people in different industries. The bar lobby is where the guest-listed people and VIPs are welcomed so the reception desk should be long to accommodate several event promoters checking who gets in and who stays out.
The queue of party-goers will be designated accordingly, so the aisles should be wide to fit in two to three lines at the entrance and if the space will permit, the exit should be in a different location so the crowd doesn’t get out-of-hand and confused. Some bars that just cater to the drinking group can have the traditional main door that will lead to the dining area and the bar counter directly, just like in many restaurants.
- Efficient Bar Location
The road to profit for bars is not just in the entrance fees and VIP reservations, but most basically at how many glasses of liquor, cocktail drinks and food are ordered in one night. In that respect, the bar should be visible at first glance when you enter the main area. It is the oasis for alcohol-thirsty clubbers and the means to having an enjoyable time for some visitors. There are clubs with two or more bars, one situated at the center of the dance floor and others at the back of the space where the drinking area is located. Preferably, they are placed at the side of the dance floor as accessible refilling stations.
These bars can be raised to a level higher than the dance floor or vice versa so that area division can be defined. Often, they look more attractive that way. The multi-leveled steps can be lighted by neon lights or LED so that they glow in the dark. Intoxication blurs the mind but with a little help from well-lit steps, you might still navigate your way through the bar without falling over and spilling your drinks.
- Flexible Dance and Drinking Area
The dance floor should be wide enough to accommodate the throng of dancers in the bar. The choice of floor tiles should be textured and durable so as not to be slippery. The dance area could be elevated or lower than the drinking area or separated by rails for division and also for crowd control however, there are some places where the dance and drinking areas are combined. Pub tables and bar chairs are scattered sporadically on the dance floor where people can place their drinks and rest a while. More often this set-up is for cocktail parties where the crowd is a bit more tamed than in rave parties.
The stage for the spin table of the disk jockey or the ledge for some dancers can be placed in the most outrageous of places. Here the designer can experiment with theatrical and technical designs. The ledges can be revolving or a moving platform form side to side. The spin table can be placed very high to be visible but just enough so the disk jockey can still communicate with the crowd. An interplay of lights for the ledge and the dance floor can be programmed by a computer near the spin table. With audiovisual technology getting more advanced everyday, who knows what the experts can come up with in the future?
- Communal Restrooms
This type of establishment requires numerous restrooms. Its number is dependent on how many people occupy the space. For a bar with a 500
and above person capacity, a male and female restroom can each have 5-8 cubicles or more. The restroom interiors should be consistent with the design of the main bar area and must be adjacent to the dance floor.
- VIP Lounge and Rooms
You might not notice the grand interiors in the dance floor but in the VIP area it will be quite obvious. Lounging in comfortable sofas, poufs and hip-looking stools is a treat when you just want to enjoy your drink and people watch. This area of the bar should be designed with extra care. Materials made of leather are commonly used in sofas and chairs but nowadays we have gotten more creative with modern-looking acrylic and fiberglass chairs. They are easy to clean and maintain especially if they are individual pieces and not built-in. Padded faux velvet walls and commercialized wood veneer are just a few of the durable choices in materials for this area. Structural-looking and accent lighting fixtures in different shapes and color can add a splash of interest to the space.
Recommended Bar Interior Design Books
If you enjoyed this article, you might want to learn more about modern bar interior design by checking out the following titles:
New Bar and Club Design
Bar Style: Exclusive Hotels and Members’ Club Bar Design
