concept as a bar: exclusive offers from hungarian,
second generation wine producers in a dynamic bistro milieu
design concept: add experience to wine
location: szent István square, in the heart of budapest’s
city centre
history: an existing, fully equipped and
furnished restaurant, closed for months, with dull colours and strong stone
surfaces. Its unique characteristic, thanks to the big glass shop-front of the linear indoor space, is the
marvellous view of the st. stephen’s basilica.
expectations from the client: quick realization
of an impressive and attractive interior design with functionality while also
being cost-efficient
our proposal to the client’s expectations:
1. the cost efficient part of our main
conception was “the interior design recycling”, redefining the existing
surfaces, furniture and appliances:
where the inherited beige coloured stone surfaces
were painted black, the seats, being in good conditions, were refreshed with adding
new back-rests with different
height. the structure of the existing bar was used in the newly designed
and reshaped one.
2. our new vision of the place was created by
generous usage of pine. this distinctive surface could also function as wall
covering, tables, seats, bar counters or as part of wine racks. at the same time we also used other
materials than the warm of pine, which differ in their characteristics: impregnated
concrete , pvc floors with steel like shine intensify as well as weaken the pine
dominated new vision. big continuous surfaces of strong colours like black and
the colour of pine both contribute to sense the depth of the space, while also provide
a moderate background to display the wines and refer to the main function of
the bistro.
3. we intensified the longitudinal dynamic of the
space with visualizing shady, changing in heights motives onto large surfaces: this
linear motive runs through the concrete bar, on the backs of seats and in the tube lights above the
bar.
4. for us, the most important feature of the new
atmosphere in the bistro is the redesigned lighting. we were looking for unique
solutions. In the implementation we cooperated with some international
manufacturers:
tube lights, which spectacularly reflect to the
dynamics of the space, are our own design and were produced by the belgian “tal” company.
true jewels of the bistro are the five pieces of “flos 2097-30” chandeliers. the
metal parts of them were custom made, according to our request in matte black
finish.with this our aim was to make discreet contours by the black chandeliers
hanging in a black space, this softens the hard angles of the tube lights
running above the bar.
5. instead of designing a terrace, we had a
contemporary recommendation how to use the square in front of the bar: leaving
out he classical table and chair furnishing and not defining the contour of the
outdoor area. only putting out some movable, temporary concrete standing tables
for the nights so the nearby fountain and its surroundings could be involved in
the life of the bistro.