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Haifisch
Haifisch
Zürich, Switzerland
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Other Projects by loft buro
Haifisch
Zürich, Switzerland
Firm
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2025
SIZE
0 sqft - 1000 sqft
The Haifisch was founded in 1965 in Zurich’s historic Niederdorf district by former sailor Captain Josef Schupp, or simply “Captain Jo.” It was an eccentric variety bar featuring theatrical performances and maritime romance. In the 1960s and 70s, the venue became one of the main hubs of Zurich’s nightlife, hosting variety shows, live music, theatrical performances, and eccentric acts (including a trained chimpanzee in a sailor’s uniform). In the 1970s and 1980s, it transformed into a cabaret with erotic shows and gained a reputation as a provocative nightlife venue. Since the 1980s, it has operated as a strip club/cabaret nightclub catering to an international crowd. Known to several generations of Swiss people, located in the very heart of the old town, it has become part of Zurich’s tourist and nightlife culture. The club’s mascot, the Shark, is a symbol of wild, vibrant nightlife, an image of freedom and danger, provocation, and innovation in club culture.
For the club’s 60th anniversary, the owners decided to relaunch the concept—to restore the glory and atmosphere of this legendary venue in a modern format. The establishment is positioned as a restaurant & piano bar/nightlife venue featuring fine dining, live music, and show nights.
The conceptual theme of the evening was a transition from the leisurely enjoyment of dinner accompanied by live music to a lively, high-energy party with dancing and a DJ set as night fell.
Our task was to create a design that would revive the club’s maritime image and restore the venue’s former glamour and splendor. Loft buro’s guiding principle in design is function—the way the space operates with strategically placed visual accents and focal points—and upon this functional framework, a design concept is built with a theatrical approach.
We drew inspiration from the atmosphere of classic 1960s clubs—tactile materials with nautical motifs, sculptural forms, and lamps with soft shades—and added modern technologies that create a contemporary atmosphere—sound and lighting—fully revealing the club’s maritime legacy through colors and design accents. The key to the venue’s mood is the lighting—warm during dinner, with a natural transition to dynamic colors as night falls. The club’s compact space was conceived as a theater.
The main visual and spatial axis of the venue is the bar-stage featuring the club’s symbol: a mirrored shark. Upon entering, guests arrive in the foyer—a double-sided bar serving the main hall, with the ability to serve cocktails out onto the street. The audience area is situated on the axis between the bar and the stage, consisting of sofa groups in the center, flanked by groups of tables along the long sofas. The interior is dominated by blue and its shades, complemented in the details by various prints on the textiles.
The compositional core of the space is the stage, set apart and transformed into a “music box”—a decorative mechanism for the performance area that captures the audience’s attention. Mirrors set the rhythm, light creates the climax, and a sense of infinity is achieved through the multiplication of images and the interplay of lighting scenarios. The central part of the hall is accentuated on the ceiling by a composition of wooden and mirrored panels, with integrated dynamic lighting.
The side walls support the venue’s maritime theme—on one side, a shark logo; on the opposite side, portholes—windows into the blue of the boundless ocean. All individual lighting groups are subordinate to the overall lighting direction—emphasizing the intimacy of the pianist’s performance or building the tension of a DJ set.
For the club’s 60th anniversary, the owners decided to relaunch the concept—to restore the glory and atmosphere of this legendary venue in a modern format. The establishment is positioned as a restaurant & piano bar/nightlife venue featuring fine dining, live music, and show nights.
The conceptual theme of the evening was a transition from the leisurely enjoyment of dinner accompanied by live music to a lively, high-energy party with dancing and a DJ set as night fell.
Our task was to create a design that would revive the club’s maritime image and restore the venue’s former glamour and splendor. Loft buro’s guiding principle in design is function—the way the space operates with strategically placed visual accents and focal points—and upon this functional framework, a design concept is built with a theatrical approach.
We drew inspiration from the atmosphere of classic 1960s clubs—tactile materials with nautical motifs, sculptural forms, and lamps with soft shades—and added modern technologies that create a contemporary atmosphere—sound and lighting—fully revealing the club’s maritime legacy through colors and design accents. The key to the venue’s mood is the lighting—warm during dinner, with a natural transition to dynamic colors as night falls. The club’s compact space was conceived as a theater.
The main visual and spatial axis of the venue is the bar-stage featuring the club’s symbol: a mirrored shark. Upon entering, guests arrive in the foyer—a double-sided bar serving the main hall, with the ability to serve cocktails out onto the street. The audience area is situated on the axis between the bar and the stage, consisting of sofa groups in the center, flanked by groups of tables along the long sofas. The interior is dominated by blue and its shades, complemented in the details by various prints on the textiles.
The compositional core of the space is the stage, set apart and transformed into a “music box”—a decorative mechanism for the performance area that captures the audience’s attention. Mirrors set the rhythm, light creates the climax, and a sense of infinity is achieved through the multiplication of images and the interplay of lighting scenarios. The central part of the hall is accentuated on the ceiling by a composition of wooden and mirrored panels, with integrated dynamic lighting.
The side walls support the venue’s maritime theme—on one side, a shark logo; on the opposite side, portholes—windows into the blue of the boundless ocean. All individual lighting groups are subordinate to the overall lighting direction—emphasizing the intimacy of the pianist’s performance or building the tension of a DJ set.
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