Gradient blue cocktail bar pays homage to the Mediterranean

In an Italian town halfway between Rome and Naples, architect and designer Gae Avitabile has shaped a cocktail bar to pay tribute to the Mediterranean and the romance and atmosphere of its seaside towns.

Working within an existing building fabric, Avitabile’s first intervention was to take away the windows to create large openings that connect patrons directly to the incredible coastal panorama. The rest of the design is kept simple with a select material palette.

GALLERY

‘Substance, textures, colors and sounds of the area are indeed the linchpins of the project—small in scale, although with a strong visual impact—reproduced through the use of a limited number of simple materials specifically out of respect for the town and its lost simplicity,’ explains the Avitabile.

Echoing the maritime landscape, the walls are covered with a turquoise aluminum mesh curtain and the bar itself features a wave-like shape and blue gradient. In contrast to the azure tones, the flooring is made up of hollow terracotta bricks, which have been filled with white lime and then covered with resin.

Other highlights from the interior design include the custom metal mesh structure suspended above the bar and the white Falkland lamp, a design of Bruno Munari that references fishermen’s pots.

Wrapping up the project, the bathroom is a small trunk covered in wallpaper with exotic motifs—a reference to the nostalgia of travel and an invitation to symbolically look for new inspirations elsewhere.

Images by Carlo Oriente via Designboom