Evolution Bar Revives an Arched 18th Century Romanian Basement

It's always exciting to descend stairs into the basement of an old, historic building for a night out, but even more so to find it transformed into a hip, contemporary space like Sebastian Barlica's enigmatic Evolution Bar. A brick vault with transverse arches, the basement area of the 18th century neo-gothic building in the Cafeneaua Veche area of Bucharest was long abandoned as a storage area. So Barlica warmed it up with a glossy HI-MAC bar top, interesting hose pipe chandeliers and a few other light touches.

Romania, Bucharest, Sebastian Barlica, green design, green renovation, adaptive reuse, sustainable design, eco-design, brick, HI-MAC, Bucharest, 18th century building, Neo-Gothic

Above the Evolution Bar, Barlica has designed a new Mediterranean restaurant, pictures of which are on their way, while below, the designer thought it prudent to maintain the ambience of the brickwork and byzantine-like paintings. Albeit a bit run down, the building’s basement definitely has an old world charm that merely needed a little sprucing; the light green HI-MAC bar top addition did the trick.

A durable material that is easily molded into fluid forms, HI-MAC is also easily repaired and hygienic, so it won’t be necessary to create further interventions for a while. This adds to the sustainability of an already gentle renovation project, which sees the original brick arches and stone floor left virtually untouched. Tasked to transform a relatively small space into a comfortable social area, Barlica has used every inch very efficiently with space for bottles carved right into the countertop and other support suspended above the bar like a honeycomb.

+ Sebastian Barlica

Via Contemporist

images by Serban Boncicat and Ciprian Stoian