Blue Bar | Wallpaper*

A bar in blue tones with red lampshades and silver highlights — (Image credit: TBC)

When it opened in 2004, the Blue Bar at The Berkeley quickly became one of the late David Collins’ most famous projects – its compact proportions and lovely Lutyens paneling gave it an easy intimacy by way of flattering lighting and low-slung furniture that encouraged huddled power-chats, or a satisfying round of pre-prandial gossip.

And now, Collins protégé Robert Angell has orchestrated a dramatic spruce up of the space whilst carefully staying true to the original mood and colour scheme.

The immediate impression is of an expanded room, this courtesy of a larger extension project spearheaded by Rogers Stirk Harbour Partnership which has inserted two carbon fibre pavilions – one of which is moulded onto The Blue Bar – into the front of the hotel to open up its façade.

Blue louvers provide a peekaboo privacy screen over the floor to ceiling glass walls, while Dernier & Hamlyn reproduced the original red silk lampshades and Cardinals Hat Lanterns. Collins’ familiar colour palette of blue, red, white and silver has been faithfully retained, with Angell designing a new blue-hued bar and new handmade furniture by Ben Whistler.

The cocktails menu is equally polychromatic as bar manager Rashid Ghuloom mixes golden champagne cocktails, blue, and green tipples.

A seating area with the classic blue walls, silver furniture and red lampshades

ADDRESS

The Berkeley
Wilton Pl
London SW1X 7RL

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Daven Wu is the Singapore Editor at Wallpaper*. A former corporate lawyer, he has been covering Singapore and the neighbouring South-East Asian region since 1999, writing extensively about architecture, design, and travel for both the magazine and website. He is also the City Editor for the Phaidon Wallpaper* City Guide to Singapore.