Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar by Junlin Zhang

Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar by Junlin Zhang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2024 A' Design Award d'Argent in Disseny d'Espais Interiors i Exposicions Competition Category.

ArgentInterior· 2024

Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar

by Junlin Zhang

Client: Janus

A' Design Award d'Argent Winner in Interior Category

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Verified Award Winner
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The Design

About Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar

Janus és un bar de whisky i còctels situat a Changsha, la Xina. L'interior ocupa uns 200 metres quadrats i s'organitza en dues plantes. La façana està formada per blocs geomètrics negres i senzills amb detalls clàssics, i una plataforma en voladís sosté una escultura clàssica. La primera planta és un espai de suport, mentre que la segona planta és l'espai principal i rep llum natural a través d'una obertura al sostre. L'escala utilitza esglaons de fusta solts que produeixen un so suau i un lleuger rebot sota els peus. La fusta de xapa amb veta vertical i l'acer inoxidable mirallat configuren l'atmosfera.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award d'Argent

Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar és un guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Argent, un reconeixement extraordinàriament prestigiós concedit a dissenys d'alta gamma, esplèndids i impressionants. Els guanyadors d'Argent són obres tremendament brillants i summament creatives que il·lustren la perícia, el talent i la perspicàcia excepcionals dels seus dissenyadors. Es preveu que Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar sigui una obra meravellosa i de gran lluïment, remarcablement professional i profundament innovadora. Aquest disseny guanyador del guardó A' Design Award d'Argent és un invent molt notable i admirat que beneficia i fa avançar els límits de l'art, la ciència, el disseny i la tecnologia. Janus Disseny d'Interior de Bar és una creació molt envejada que evoca desitjos, introdueix sentiments positius i desperta sorpresa i admiració.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Janus is a whisky and cocktail bar with a social aspect. Our client had two demands: one was that the audience should not interpret this place according to the literal meaning of Janus or their traditional concepts, and the other was that the audience should have more than two different spatial experiences in this place. These different spatial experiences combine as an integral whole rather than to be independent ones.
Dimensions & Packaging: 200 meter-square
Tags: bar, whisky, postmodernism, hard and warm feeling, retroism, experimental
Production Technology: What exactly are we talking about when we talk about spatial ambience? Is it sunlight, air, sound, materials, textures, or colours? I began to think about the overall relevance of the façade in relation to the first and second floors. They are at once traditional, strong and thick, even a little archaic and they are at the same time receptive, inclusive, interesting and experimental. I tried to use postmodernism to summarise the atmosphere created inside and outside the building. I decided to create the façade with clean and simple geometric blocks, which is the style of contemporary. But it also has classical features in the details. To this point I felt that these designs were not enough because the conflict had not reached its climax. So I added a cantilever platform to place a classical sculpture. It was at this point that I felt the importance of such design planning came to the fore. The pure black and hard blocks together with the classical sculpture bring the sense of power and make it attractive. Such not complicated aesthetics give audiences more possibilities to imagine.
Design Challenge: I decided to create the façade with clean and simple geometric blocks, which is the style of contemporary. But it also has classical features in the details. To this point I felt that these designs were not enough because the conflict had not reached its climax. So I added a cantilever platform to place a classical sculpture. It was at this point that I felt the importance of such design planning came to the fore. The pure black and hard blocks together with the classical sculpture bring the sense of power and make it attractive. Such not complicated aesthetics give audiences more possibilities to imagine.
Research: I tried to decipher the form of beauty, but I found that I could not describe or categorise it accurately and clearly. It can be specific things such as people, air, light, sound or colour. When we deal with different clients and different conditions of the place, the results are unpredictable. It reminds me of Louis Kahn, who asked the red brick what it wanted to be.
Inspiration: When I first went to the site for mapping, I was very excited and surprised by the light on the second floor, when the sunlight was pouring down from the daylight opening. My first reaction was that the place already has distinctive features that can bring audiences different moods, and experiences in the daytime and night-time. I then began to conceptualise how to create two or more different atmospheres in the space. Creating is the art of making a meaningful whole out of individual components
Project Duration: The project was launched in March 2023 in Changsha, China and completed in June 2023 in Changsha, China
Operation Flow: When I open the door to the first floor, the confrontation between the interior space and the facade appeared which is confrontation in colour, material, the whole and the fragmented. But this does not detract from the formal unity of the exterior and interior. The retroism without losing the independent style declares their relevance. The staircase guides to the upward space, and I deliberately used loose wood as the tread of the staircase. Stepping on it has a rustling sound and can feel the rebound of the wood. This is completely different from the feeling of crossing the first floor with steady steps. The first floor also doesn’t have the light and shadow spilling out from the top. The low linear strip of light on the side of the handrail is a safety cue as well as an orientation. People in such environment begins to become focused and anticipated. The spatial atmosphere of the second floor is basically the same as what I had conceived. Everything is as it is. There is no conflict, no exaggerated arrangement, no criticism and no attempts. I am like a director who arranges the work of each department and position in an orderly manner. Covered wood veneer with vertical grain delivers both hard and warm feeling. Mirrored stainless steel breaks the calm and refract light and images that change with the activities of the people in the space. Sometimes it is cold, sometimes warm, sometimes noisy, sometimes quiet and ambiguous.
Team Members: Lead designer: JunLin Zhang
Extension designer: WenLiang Liu
Rendering designer: JingYu Zhang
Image Credits: Ueya photography（Lei Liu）