Office AIO conceives a haven and a shrine for the bar-cafe Bar Lotus
Situated in a sycamore tree-lined neighbourhood of Jing’an, Shanghai, Bar Lotus sits at the end of a 100m long, single-story development that hosts restaurants, bars and other lifestyle programs. Originating from Chengdu, China, the client approached Office AIO for their first establishment in Shanghai.
The name of the bar, lotus, represents enlightenment and transcendence. From its name, the team conceives a curious retreat in the bustling neighbourhood, a place where one can unwind with coffee during the day and cocktails during the night. Instead of a mere photogenic place, Office AIO steers spatial design back to one with a powerful physical presence, rethinking how architectural languages of spiritual sites can be reinterpreted, blending serenity and mystery for awe of urban social life.
Mischievous passage leading to day and night worlds
Once used as a service kitchen without access to natural light, the site consists of staggered rectangular volumes. The team opens up two arches at the facade to invite light and draws out an “invisible” division from one of the openings. Acting as a central axis, the division creates two parts in the space, each comprising a main seating area and a narrow bar counter on opposing sides of the axis.
The axis acts as a node connection and a mischievous passage to the day and night worlds. A set of one-way mirror sliders casts curious mirages on the street, playfully enticing patrons and passersby with the hidden worlds behind doors. They open and close alternatively according to the role the space becomes, a peaceful cafe of the day or a mesmerizing bar of the night.
Contrasting experience: a haven and a shrine
Day visitors will find themselves enjoying a sun-filled cafe right by the street. Behind the door, a coffee-serving bar counter receives the patrons with three arched windows. On the other side of the axis gallery, a deep archway leads into the travertine-lined room, with a halo-shaped lighting floating in the air and suggesting a heavenly place during the day.
When the night adorns, the haven expands into a bar of intrigue. Closed during the day, the mirror sliders in the middle open up the archway and reveal the place for nightlife. The central gallery is now more than a mere passage but an intimate social space for unexpected encounters. A rose-gold stainless ceilinged standing bar made from Rosso Levanto lights up the inner half of the axis with an affluent sensuality.
Across the bar, the arch-punctured border presents an open seating area unseen from the bar’s front door. A boundless U-shaped arcade behind it creates a dramatic impression that becomes the heart of the experience. Like a rock-cut vihara during the night, the internal rhythmic arches among small dots of suspended lights separate a central nave and surrounding aisle for seating.
This main room iterates on similar design materials as other rooms, with delicate alteration for richness. The same travertine as seen in the cafe room paves the seating aisle while Indian Green marble from the passage gallery adorns the centre. Thin disks of rose-gold tabletop respond to the ceiling of the bar and nave, reflecting lights like flickering candle flames. The long benches around the perimeter is made of wood, creating a warm contrast to the enigmatic nave. For an extra touch of spiritual connection in the shrine-like bar, the designer co-created woven pouffes with WHYKNOT.
In designing two distinct programs for different times of the day, Office AIO establishes an enduring value for Bar Lotus. It continuously attracts cutting-edge labels to experiment with special events in a space with spiritual character but of well-orchestrated fittings and multilayered experience.
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