Best Bar Design: The Tote India

I was so excited when the winners were announced for the 2010 Restaurant and Bar Design Awards.  I love a good bar, so started to mentally prepare (ie. what would I wear?) to experience the winning design. Then I realized it would be quite a bar hop, as this year’s winner, The Tote was over in Mumbai, India. I had to settle for the virtual experience and a self poured Kettle and soda whilst checking it out.

Designed by Chriss Lee and Kapil Gupta from Serie Architects, the bar design and construction of the Tote was a complex combination of restoration works. The bar itself is part of the larger multi-purpose Heritage building,  so the rehab included the demolition and reconstruction of a larger space, including a banquet wing.

According to Serie Architects, the most interesting aspect of the site, was not the colonial buildings but the open areas covered by mature Rain Trees. These spaces are shaded throughout the year by the thinly wide spread leaves of the Rain Trees, allowing many events to occur outdoors.  The bar design attempts to create this idea of a continuously differentiated space, with no clear boundary, into the envelope of the conservation building. The scaffolding of the space mimics the exterior under the Rain Trees.

The Tote Mumbai, India, won The 2010 Restaurant Bar Design Awards in category International Bar and Best Bar design award.