Bauwerk Opera bar

Opera bar

14. November 2006 - Architekturarchiv Slowenien

Opera bar in Ljubljana is an example of a project that would like to deal with interior on a higher level of quality. As the name indicates, the bar is situated on the corner in front of the opera house. This place was very popular for centuries. In spite the fact that it was redecorated some 15 years ago, the public has still in mind the older interior that gave the bar a popular name „Messing“, a Germanism in Slovene slang language indicating the presence of brass in its interior. A rich businessman of Slovenian origin from Sidney, Australia, bought the bar in 2002 and the architects had an opportunity to return the place its former splendor. With owner from Sidney, the name was no longer associated with the Opera House from Ljubljana but rather with the famous Sidney Opera House by Jřrn Utzon. This of course was only a staring point for thinking about the interior in a fresh way. At the end the bar has qualities both associated with the old „Messing“ and with Australian culture. The bar is divided in three spaces: the main space with bar, back room and the mezzanine where one also finds toilets. Architecture is clear and simple, with vertical articulation. With the help of wooden podium, stairs, mezzanine (almost a balcony) and high spaces, a kind of „Raumplan“ is created. The materials are white wall, wood and stone (partly on the floor). The architects added carefully made details, made mostly of brass, that work almost like jewelry: niches, stair handles and coat hooks. Additionally there are Aborigine paintings on the ceiling and in the toilets and several carefully selected Australian pieces of art. There is always a video projection on the wall showing Australian wildlife. The whole effect is noble and at the same time one feels like somewhere else, not in Ljubljana. It is not so difficult for an architect to design nice details and pick fashionable furniture from production catalogues. The real achievement is the ability to combine all elements like walls, materials, chairs, light, acoustic and qualities of materials that we touch in a harmonic unity in order to create an ambient, where visitors feel good and are attracted to it. Vesna and Matej Vozlič had shown this sensibility before in their work. Also with Opera Bar one has a feeling that the place has potential strategy to survive the criticism of the years to come. Matej Vozlič

Blaž Budja

Blaž Budja

Matej Vozlič

Blaž Budja

Opera bar

Blaž Budja

Blaž Budja

Matej Vozlič

Blaž Budja

Details

Wohnungsumbau Gloriettegasse

Praxis für eine Hautärztin

Reiters Reserve Premium Suites

YOUNIQ Vienna TrIIIple

Schloss Kittsee

Schloss Gandegg, Bibliothek—Bar—Loggia

Lifting Napoleonstadel

Ausstellungsarchitektur Ars Electronica

Dorfladen Goldmarie

Reiters Reserve Premium Suites

Ausstellungsarchitektur Ars Electronica

Schloss Kittsee

Lifting Napoleonstadel

Schloss Gandegg, Bibliothek—Bar—Loggia

Dorfladen Goldmarie

Praxis für eine Hautärztin

YOUNIQ Vienna TrIIIple

Wohnungsumbau Gloriettegasse

Ausstellungsarchitektur Ars Electronica

Lifting Napoleonstadel

Reiters Reserve Premium Suites

Schloss Kittsee

Schloss Gandegg, Bibliothek—Bar—Loggia

Praxis für eine Hautärztin

Wohnungsumbau Gloriettegasse

YOUNIQ Vienna TrIIIple

Dorfladen Goldmarie