Local studio NM3 looked to Vienna's iconic 20th-century American Bar by Adolf Loos when designing the bespoke red-hued interior of Milan's Bar Bardo.
When designing the project, NM3 drew on the influential design of Loos's famous bar, an early modernist landmark finished in 1908.
"The American Bar was more of an aspiration than a direct formal reference," studio co-founder Francesco Zorzi told Dezeen.
"The ambition was never to recreate Loos's bar, nor Robert and Trix Haussmann's Kronenhalle in Zurich, which was another important reference for the project," he explained. "Rather, we wanted to create a truly classic bar for Milan, with a very specific spatial and architectural character."
Located just across the road from the city's popular Bar Basso, Bar Bardo is housed within a 55-square-metre single room with an additional bathroom.
Almost every element in the listening bar was custom-designed by NM3, known for its modernist-style stainless steel furniture that has already made the young studio a household name in Milan since its founding in 2020.
The walls and ceiling were clad with polished rosewood panels, which add character to the small space while improving its acoustics.
A quintessentially NM3 stainless steel bar was placed in the centre of the room, where its gleaming surfaces reflect the globular 1950s pendant lights by Italian architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni.
The lamps are the only vintage pieces in the bar. NM3 swapped their original chains with longer black ones.
The perimeter of the space features built-in red velvet banquette seating, which matches crimson curtains and a series of bright red speakers fitted across the bar to accommodate a stainless steel DJ booth and metal shelving for vinyl records.
Bar Bardo was purposefully designed to be a flexible space. Every interior element is movable, with the exception of the bar and the banquettes.
"By simply removing the furniture, the cocktail bar can easily be transformed into a club," said Zorzi. "The flexibility of the space is therefore achieved through a simple architectural arrangement rather than complex spatial interventions."
At the back of the space, the striking bathroom was covered with bright red 10-centimetre-by-10-centimetre tiles, from floor to ceiling.
Utilitarian stainless steel was once more selected for the toilet, sink and other fixtures, while pared-back sconce lights illuminate the cubicle.
Bar Bardo marks a softer design direction for NM3. The studio previously conceived a "raw" interior for Milan's Galleria Montegani, as well as a similarly metal-heavy store in the city for fashion brand Miss Sixty.
Ahead of Milan design week in April, NM3 was among the studios that spoke to Dezeen about what it's like to be a contemporary designer in Italy's design capital.
The photography is by Piercarlo Quecchia.
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