Sputnik Bar

Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer

Sputnik Bar

Steiner Architecture

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Flo Oberschneider, Ferdi Porsche, Max Sandner, Camilla Struklec

MANUFACTURERS
Viabizzuno, Be-studio, Kohlmaier

CONTRACTOR
Kohlmaier Gmbh, Lindner Möbel & Treppen Gmbh

TERRAZZO
Hartmann Jörg

LIGHTING CONSULTANT
Franke Leuchten Gmbh

PHOTOGRAPHS
Simon Oberhofer

AREA
80 m²

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Viena, Austria

CATEGORY
Detail, Decoration & Ornament, Restaurant & Bar Interiors

Text description provided by architect.

Launched in 1957, Sputnik was the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth.

This unassuming four-legged sphere circled our planet for three months before disintegrating in the atmosphere and occasioned the awkward period we know as the Space Race, during which the Soviet Union and the USA competed for astronautic supremacy.

Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer

Thus Sputnik Bar in Vienna’s fancy first district has something of the vintage spacecraft:

Bolstered curved leather seats, a stainless steel bar fitted with oversize wall lamps that resemble rotating sirens, and LED lights hidden in window frames that make frosted glass glow with a fade.

It also has something of the American diner, more because of the spacecraft references than despite them – diners being susceptible to neophilia themselves.

Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer

Sputnik’s circular seating suggests sociability that feels North American, and the stainless steel bar and stools evoke burgers and milkshakes as much as they evoke cocktails.

America is also referenced, albeit indirectly, in the glow tables, as they allude to the ones Adolf Loos employed in his American Bar more than a hundred years ago in the same area of Vienna.

But the American and Space Race quotations avoid the extravagance common to the futuristic styles of the 50s and 60s.

Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer

The fancies of Atompunk and Googie aesthetics are tempered by the advantage of hindsight, by full knowledge of the risks of science, pastel colors, and good old modern design.

The Prussian blue of the fire-rated acoustic panels is alleviating, especially where it meets the white of the staircase parapet wall - the contrast being almost Mediterranean.

The white marble on the inbuilt seats and the brass hook hangers on the walls are further touches of timelessness that assuage the anxieties of the future.

Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer


Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer
Sputnik Bar
© Simon Oberhofer


Sputnik Bar
Elevation
Sputnik Bar
Elevation


Sputnik Bar
Floor Plan