This Best of Year Winning Bar Is a Work of Art

Charged with creating an art-inspired nightclub, Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos interior design director Fernanda Patiño conceived one that looks like a piece of sculpture itself. “We emulated sculptors who start with a solid element and carve it into something new,” Patiño says. “In our case, it was a sensuous, inhabitable void.” A steel structure covered with MDF panels forms the undulating walls; local craftsmen applied fiberglass paste by hand to give the surface a chiseled texture. The organic shell integrates booths and LED strips that pulse with the beat of the music. Guests, who access the second-floor space by way of a moody stairwell sheathed with patinated-steel plates, enter a luxe cave with ceramic stone flooring, a gold-painted vaulted ceiling, and brass details. A pair of boomerang-shape, oak-veneered banquettes sits at the center of the 3,000-square-foot lounge, which is served by a Statuario marble bar; the firm collaborated with Mob Studio on the custom marble-topped steel tables and other furnishings. Blurring the line between art and architecture, Odessa is a creative triumph. ¡Salud!

Project Team: Javier Sordo Madaleno Bringas; Javier Sordo Madaleno De Haro; Fernando Sordo Madaleno De Haro; Fernanda Patiño; Paola Martínez Miguel; Jorge Ahumada; Diego Diaz; Marco López; Karla Valdés.

> See the full list of winners and honorees from Best of Year 2020