SIAIVO DIVE BAR

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ABOUT PROJECT

This is the bar at the building of the former Prague bank from the Austrian-Hungarian period. It was a one-room apartment with small additional utility premises. The architects’ team was fascinated by the quality of the original materials. We have found an authentic complex Austrian terrazzo floor with black and white mosaic elements under the floor tiles. The only decision was to remove the tiles and keep the terrazzo, no matter its condition.

IDEA

A feature is a vast window, which illuminates the space cinematically. This, as well as the height of the ceiling, allowed us to make a balcony second floor. This is a coffee shop during the day and a bar at night. For performing both tasks, we resorted to a close-seating not traditionally used in such cafes: window seats, a long table along the handrail length on the second floor, etc.

DESIGN

Fortunately, The Restare Ukrainian Architectural Salvage Warehouse just had spiral metal Austrian stairs of the right height and optimal size, as well as a fence from an old Austrian house. It is from the same period and the same style, so it fits nicely into this building. It was a happy coincidence that the fence contained a bent element, the radius of which approached the diameter of the stairs. Such coincidences do not happen; maybe it was sent to us from heaven.

We decided not to restore the stairs and handrails. The fact that they are old and covered with corrosion, we did not hide, but on the contrary, we wanted to show: they are not from here, the stairs are not made specifically for these rooms, but are rare and fortunately found. They are a document of the era. We only repaired them functionally.

The final element of the handrail at the top, which acts as a baluster, is an anti-parking column, which happened to be on the site during the renovation. We found it on one of the days of the author’s supervision when we were thinking about what to take to complete the handrail. So we just asked the metal workers to use it.

The floor on the second floor was laid with old Soviet parquet. Nevertheless, with its warmth, it matches the atmosphere.

We decided to place the central dominant on the ceiling. This is a large chandelier. The ceiling is mirrored to make the chandelier look even more massive. We also added sconce lamps.

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Instead of hanging many ceiling spotlights, we used small table lamps that softly illuminate guest areas. Wall mirrors were hung above the bar so that everyone could see who entered the bar, as well as to make the room look more significant and exciting from the street.

To make the interiors look timeless, team made elements aged and used materials such as stainless steel and marble.

In this project, we freely experimented with colors. Previously, mostly graphite and white we used as the main ones. Here at Siaivo, Replus has a new twist: instead of popular shades that are easy to work with, we focused on a more complex color, in particular, green on the ceiling. The experiment was successful.

In the WCs, we wanted a more cozy feeling than in the main room, so the walls are covered with wood to make the space visually warm and pleasant. Usually, you don’t expect to see a WC like this in a bar.

There was no floor in the WC area. We made a new one, but according to the principle of a restored mosaic frame. There we used the old wash basins and repeated the signature style that we used in the Promin pizzeria, the previous facility of this group of establishments. Water pipes were deliberately and specially laid above the walls.

Functionalism is beautiful. We empirically found that sometimes things can be treated more simply, and the effect will be much more significant.

Siaivo dive bar is about a simple approach, where designers did not invent anything ultra-fashionable and extra modern but made a return to the classics. The idea was to create the impression that the establishment had been operating since the beginning of the 20th century, as if neither the sign nor the interior had changed here.

We deliberately wanted to ground ourselves here so that in an old Austrian house, there would be a proper-looking bar that fits the place: as if the local Gatsby had hanged out here, and 100 years later, guys with tattoos came in, dusted off, and stood behind the bar. Splashes of modernity, such as stainless steel and lighting stripe, show that you are still here and now, in the third millennium, but you find yourself in an entirely inherent atmosphere in the building.

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