BarRouge
Back to Projects list- Location
- Messeturm, Basel, exhibition center tower, Switzerland
- Year
- 2003
Hundreds of meters high, where the air grows thinner and the heart beats faster, is a place of senses, fragrances and views – the BarRouge.
Everything here is red − tables, benches, floor, ceiling, stairs and bar. Only the guests and the sea of houses seen from the floor to ceiling windows present a contrast to the monochrome red. All the bar’s visitors float over the city, completely removed from their everyday lives.
Guests stand and sit on both sides of the long bar in the middle of the open room, so that strangers often exchange glances. Those who wish to take a seat on the narrow, winding benches have to plunge through a narrow passageway, dodging the legs that extend from left and right, or ask someone to stand up for them.
A second floor underneath is reached by way of a central, interior staircase. In terms of atmosphere, the rooms in complementary blue-green tones offer a stark contrast to the space one story up. In the main area, the so-called Coco Room, the ceiling and walls have been painted by British artist Tod Hanson.
As a place of art, culture and cult, with installations, events, transformation and allure, the BarRouge is lively, full of delight, and always unpredictably seductive.
The group now operating the bar redesigned it in 2009.
Brief
Interior Design