The top of the stainless steel bar boasts custom wiredrawing engraving.
The top of the stainless steel bar boasts custom wiredrawing engraving.

May 19, 2022

Words: Jesse Dorris

Photography: INSPACE, FEATHER VISION

Panda Nana Designs an Out-of-This-World Whiskey Bar in Zhangzhou, China

Sometimes you just need a drink. Other times, you need a complete intoxication of the senses—and for the latter occasion, Panda Nana designed the Control Bar in Zhangzhou. The 3,200-square-foot space is a vision of undulating grids and disorienting layouts. And that’s before you even reach the bar itself.

“The main inspiration is the retro space game,” says chief designer Lin Jiacheng. “Mechanics and technology are the keys to explore the unknown world.” A new printing technology was the key to the design, which allowed the designers to create 3-D lines on the stainless steel plates cladding the walls. This, and the curve of some of the plates themselves, create a space which feels free of gravity. Modular installations of light boxes further the fantasy. 

But the biggest flight of fancy is surely the bar, above which floats a sci-fi fantasia of incubating beings fed through tubes. It’s the ideal spot, in the strangest bar on earth, to stop and nurse a whiskey.  

In the entry corridor, light boxes offer vistas reflected against floors covered with silver foil.
In the entry corridor, light boxes offer vistas reflected against floors covered with silver foil.
An orange arch marks the second-floor bar; the silver arch leads to a VIP room.
An orange arch marks the second-floor bar; the silver arch leads to a VIP room.
Mysterious beings greet guests at the bar in an installation of stainless steel, acrylic, and 3D printed forms.
Mysterious beings greet guests at the bar in an installation of stainless steel, acrylic, and 3-D-printed forms.
The bar takes on the hues of the lighting system as it changes in color and intensity.
The bar takes on the hues of the lighting system as it changes in color and intensity.
The team opened a hole into a pillar to serve as a storage area for wine and beer.
The team opened a hole into a pillar to serve as a storage area for wine and beer.
Lights embedded into the entrance façade’s silver-foil-painted walls create illusions of space and shape.
Lights embedded into the entrance façade’s silver foil-painted walls create illusions of space and shape.
A custom chair catches the bold lighting design in a VIP room.
A custom chair catches the bold lighting design in a VIP room.
The top of the stainless steel bar boasts custom wiredrawing engraving.
The top of the stainless steel bar boasts custom wiredrawing engraving.

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