AKI ISHIDA

The bar creates characteristics more refined and hotel bar-like than the other two East Village clubs that the client owned. There was a desire for indirect lighting incorporated into the space. The design uses of materials not often found in bars, resulting in unusual tactile and spatial characteristics. Taking advantage of a corner site with windows along two walls, a continuous drink counter runs along the windows, it creates ideal spots for watching the local nightlife. The counter surface continues to become the back of the banquettes and the bar counter, which is placed at the back corner facing the front door.

 

The bottle shelves, clad with cork panels with light fixtures behind, are designed to be visible by the bartenders but concealed from the customers. Commonly used for flooring, here the cork panels become the acoustic baffles, the bottle shelves, as well as the main lighting feature. The bar counter, drink counter and the banquettes are constructed of plastic made from recycled milk jugs.  The counter surfaces are sanded to give a soft, velvet-like sensation. The vertical faces of the bar and the banquettes are faced with the same plastic slats.

 

Design and fabrication of cork baffles: David Crandall and Aki Ishida

All other construction: Seth Wachtell

Photography:  Aki Ishida and Kazuhito Tanaka