Few boîtes are more deserving of the moniker "jewel box" than Vienna's fabled Loos Bar. At less than 300 square feet, Adolf Loos's modernist masterpiece is smaller than many American closets -- yet the Viennese architect's masterful use of mirrors beneath a coffered ceiling creates the illusion of a never-ending expanse of space and light.
The erstwhile saloon of a private gentleman's club, Loos American Bar (or just Loos Bar or the American) opened in 1908 after Loos returned from a three-year sojourn in the United States. With only three banquettes sheathed in absinthe green leather complemented by a tessellated floor in green and white marble, Loos Bar is one of Vienna's most romantic watering holes, beloved for its cozy and dimly-lit interior.
New Yorkers who yearn for an equally clandestine cocktail (without an eight-hour flight on Austrian Airlines) can wander into the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), where Viennese design firm breadedEscalope has created a pop-up homage to Loos Bar.
As a participant in ACFNY's ten-year retrospective of Vienna Design Week, breadedEscalope offers Bar Non-Lieu (2015), which is approximately the size of a steamer trunk from yesteryear, albeit comprised of particle board on its exterior. With the addition of removable wooden legs, Bar Non-Lieu resembles an amalgam of a sideboard and a classical bar cabinet -- yet a pair of latched doors enables two people to step inside and take a seat, thereby affording a new perspective on the ostensibly simple object.
Once inside Bar Non-Lieu, a patron has the impression of being seated at an atmospheric bar, complete with decanter and shot glasses, candles and ashtray, and a series of mirrors that expands the sense of space. Though you are seated in a box from the waist up, you feel as if you are inhabiting a private cocktail lounge built for two people to share secrets and spirits. The interior design muffles external noises while the cocktail bar is proportioned perfectly for a conversation between two people. The addition of a stovepipe and ashtray enables smokers (of whatever) to fully indulge without fear of asphyxiation.
In honor of Vienna Design Week's first decade, the exhibition at ACFNY (which runs through 16 January 2017) showcases the work of Austria's contemporary designers, often working in tandem with celebrated Viennese manufacturers such as J. & L. Lobmeyr, Wiener Silber Manufactur, and A.E. Köchert Juweliere. Comprised of fir wood framing and mahogany-stained plywood, as well as mirrors and a set of bar stools, Bar Non-Lieu also comes with a set of handmade tumblers and decanter.
From its inception in 2007, Vienna Design Week's modus operandi has been "A City Full of Design," a slogan that manifests the festival's desire to view design as a means of activating the urban environment. Accompanied by a 400-page publication, the exhibition at ACFNY is a celebration of Austria's most influential design festival -- and, as made manifest in breadedEscalope's Bar Non-Lieu, an homage to Viennese designers such as Adolf Loos.
(Photography credit, from top: ©David Plakke, ©Robin Roger Peller, ©breadedEscalope)