Take It Outside: 7 Outdoor Bars to Relax in This Summer

The architecture of outdoor bars is inherently precarious. The introduction of too much structure may defeat the very purpose of an outdoor program. A lack of design, however, can be equally devastating. Architects must take advantage of the freedom and flexibility of open spaces, while maintaining a clear and coherent plan for its intervention. Yet there is not a single formula to follow. As the quality of a design is so dependent on the circumstances of its setting, there are many, often conflicting, solutions for the same program.

Some of the following outdoor bars are situated in naturally open spaces. These projects provide focal points for unfenced or expansive landscapes, spreading out into these spaces without containing them. Others are already contained, existing in vacated spaces, finding room to move and breath in an otherwise congested landscape. These projects attempt to introduce a new identity to these spaces without losing the precious real estate of open skies. Still others exist in between these two extremes, finding a balance between indoor and outdoor architecture in order to break free from this very dichotomy.

Hangover by Nuno Pimenta, Penafiel, Portugal

Built as a temporary bar for an outdoor festival, Hangover is a simple yet effective intervention to the site’s natural surroundings and existing abandoned architecture. The project is comprised of a wooden, steel and fiberglass canopy which “hangs over” an old stone basin to create an illuminated, in-the-round, bar structure. Located outside for visibility and accessibility, the work also demonstrates ways to take advantage of an open setting and forsaken structures.

M60 Spatiul by Stefan Prigoreanu, Bucharest, Romania

Installed in an urban landscape, the M60 Spatiul bar is also intended to reinvigorate abandoned spaces. With little constraint created by walls or rigid structures, the project was designed for maximum flexibility. A beer garden by night, it could also be used as a marketplace or café during the day. The project also features custom furniture, which, along with the rest of the project, was fabricated from inexpensive and lightweight materials, as like Hangover, the project was only a temporary intervention into the space.

Constellations Bar by H Miller Bros., Liverpool, United Kingdom

Similarly, Constellations Bar is a multifunctional space designed for a vacated industrial site, incorporating modular furniture and a flexible layout. Yet the most dramatic element of the project is its only fixed architecture: a canopy over the bar featuring an exposed timber structure and diagonal geometry. While the structure’s profile appears irregular, it actually links the project to the existing architecture around the courtyard. Not only is it physically connected to the brick warehouses, but the bar echoes the slope of the adjacent building’s roof.

Arbory Bar & Eatery by Jackson Clements Burrows, Melbourne, Australia

Built on the site of a former railroad, Arbory Bar & Eatery makes the most of its long and narrow setting. The bar’s structure contains only a few essential elements, so that it creates the smallest footprint possible. Everything existing beyond the actual bar counter, such as seating for patrons, is located outside, so that visitors can spread out along a long, if narrow, space.

Iris Bar & Restaurant by PSLab, Beirut, Lebanon

The Iris Bar & Restaurant is not the reinterpretation of an abandoned space, but the transformation of an existing rooftop bar. Rather than adding structures which would inevitably enclose and restrict the open design, the project involved discreet lighting solutions to create a novel environment. Different lighting structures, as well as varying qualities and intensities of light, subtly create distinct spaces throughout the bar and restaurant, defining the ambience of each individual area while collectively forming a bright and dynamic spectacle.

Bar in the Caves of Porto Cristo. Mallorca. by A2arquitectos, Porto Cristo, Spain

Designed at the entrance to a cave, A2arquitectos’ bar integrates both the spaces inside and outside of this natural architecture. Similar to the Arbory bar, essential facilities are contained indoors while patrons are encouraged to spread out and experience the surrounding space. The two environments are linked by the glowing bar which extends out from the shelter of the cave to light up its environs.

yoshi bar by naoya matsumoto design, Shiga, Japan

Prefabricated out of panels of reeds, yoshi bar blurs the line between indoor and outdoor architecture. The walls and ceiling do not form an actual barrier between the bar and its surroundings, and in fact attract views through and between these spaces. Yet the minimal architecture evokes the feeling of a contained, protected environment, in the way it envelopes patrons, and suggests the sketchy profile of a more traditional building.