The New Spirituality Of Bar Design

The cutting edge in club design, it turns out, ironically may have no edges to it at all. In fact, the most progressive lounges and bars may exist at least partially only in the minds of their patrons, if designers do their part right. Confused? Continue reading.
    Fernando Vossa is a multi-disciplinary designer with a background in virtual reality design, using simulation and digital architecture. In a perfect fit for his occupation, Vossa also is heeled in cognitive psychology, with a specialty in visual perception. He puts his various disciplines into the synergy that is his role as design director with Florida-based firm Creative Environments.
    “The direction and movement is more toward spirituality,” Vossa says. “That is not a dirty word anymore in the commercial world. It means more and more people are looking for greater meaning in their lives. In the 1950s, the metaphor for futuristic was anything aerodynamic. Now, the idea of what’s futuristic is materials that are translucent, that diffuse light, like translucent acrylics or plastics, and three-dimensional, abstract looks.”
    The magic is mental, Vossa says. “One of the reasons for this is that we perceive translucent materials as being positive space, instead of negative space taking up room,” he says. “When you go into a club with translucent walls, with soft, diffused light, it’s an uplifting experience that allows you to get more into a dream state. I see translucent materials as a boundary between the physical world and the spiritual world.”

Colors and Frequencies
    Vossa considers himself part of a new movement of designers who use a new vocabulary to describe design. “In virtual reality, when you create a space, you use words like ‘What is the sense of presence? Do you feel like you’re there? What is the sense of immersion? Do you feel like you’re in an alternate reality?’
    With translucent materials and diffused lighting, you are looking to create color schemes and light levels that raise the frequency vibration of your consciousness,” he says. “We try to reach your psyche and even deeper.”
    Okay, so these deep concepts may not be ready for every middle-American corner bar, nor even appropriate, but for the right venues in the right markets, today’s consumer is primed and ready, Vossa believes.
    “One area in this spiritual movement of design comes all the way back to the Hindus and the understanding of the chakras,” he says. “The chakras are seen as concentrated energy doorways in your body. There are six chakras running along the length of your torso, and they have to be in balance or harmony.
    Each chakra has a different color and frequency, like sound and tones. Some of the things that would have earlier been considered part of the New Age movement now are mainstream, like aromatherapy, color therapy and getting massage or bodywork. Now there’s a whole new generation of alternative methods of seeing the universe that are making their way into design.
    “Today’s designers are looking to stimulate different aspects of your being — not only your physical being of sight, sound and so forth, but also emotional and spiritual centers ... The clubs and lounges you’re seeing are meant to be spaces that you’re stepping into to be more surreal.”

Other Movements
    “There’s another aspect to this that is something more tribal, like the electronic dance clubs,” Vossa says. “You’ll recall that there used to be ancient practices of running around naked, around the fire, chanting — a communion with people around you and with nature. Larger electronic dance clubs nowadays are trying to give a venue for that release.
    “Another movement is the green movement. These are very ecologically conscious individuals who care about the environment and global warming and having low impact on the way things are consumed and built.
“We will see non-toxic clubs that use green materials more in harmony with our natural environment,” Vossa says.
    “Before, translucency was created with toxic materials — acrylics and so forth that use petroleum. So, this expanded consciousness is something that designers of this next decade will really have to get comfortable with. Before, if you went into a conference room with your design clients and talked about spirituality, they would boot you out the door. Now it is something that all ad agencies, architects, developers, planners and club owners have to embrace.”

Guiding Light
    “Translucent materials also point toward a new high-tech approach,” Vossa says. “High technology now is working with light. So, we want to create spaces that are physical matter but are made out of light.
    “Designers today are sculpting with light, and that light has to be seamless between a tabletop and a spotlight. What you’re going to see are materials coming down the pike that are both light and matter at the same time.
    “There are materials like light tape. There are several companies making that. It’s flexible and thin, but it’s all made out of light, and you can manipulate the color. We also have a thin active polymer, so instead of having plasma and LCD screens, you have flexible plastic that you can wrap around columns that is a video display. Now we’re further blurring the boundaries between the physical and light.
    “The palette of design materials and light is integrating ... We’re not talking about 10 years from now. We’re talking about now.”                                 NCB