Perfect Playlist of Light & Materiality: Space Talk Listening Bar in London by EBBA and Charlotte Taylor.

Sound might be considered a sense exclusive to only the ears, but Space Talk listening bar by EBBA Architects and Charlotte Taylor suggests otherwise. Synesthesia, a sort of perceptual phenomenon, occurs when the stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second. Now, whether any experience is involuntary at Space Talk, is entirely up to the punter, however it seems safe to assume not.

Across four distinct zones, EBBA have detailed to a tee and shifted how crowds move through the space, by curating lighting and materiality to the shape of sound. If you squint, you can actually see how sound is moving through the space, gliding over and alongside the curved steel bar, absorbed and released by the solid woodblock walls and etched into the direction of the grain spread across the timber panels.

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If Her Bar on ground floor is warm, BKK—Thai restaurant on 3rd floor is downright balmy—while the Music Room, is conceived as a ‘speaker box’, or a room as an instrument.

Imagine moving from one zone into another, and the baseline beat of Hotel California morphs into In The Waiting Line by Zero 7, without skipping a beat? This sort of acoustic to trip hop transition perfectly represents the overall frame of mind captured between the walls of Space Talk. Designed to be an extension of a living space, it does exactly that, but not in the kitch-cafe manner we have come to know over the years, one that resembles a sharehouse more than a space to be enjoyed.

The hues are humble, honey-toned and homely, with clever plays on lighting that mimics the setting of the sun in the skylight, transitioning from bright white to deep red as the evening progresses from sunset into deep blue. The sun and moon to this celestial shift is the central pendant in the back lounge, custom designed by Paris and Valencia-based Pablo Bolumar and crafted from beeswax. The glow of this orb is carried through the room by the chrome and steel details throughout, quietly absorbed by the monolith-like curves of woodblock.

Another triumph is the gridwork lined up behind the dining tables and booths, a system which offers not only hooks for hanging, but a clever system for suspending art without impacting the acoustic panelling concealed behind the walls.

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Designing for sound is increasingly difficult, and often results in the abandonment of aesthetic endeavours. However, the team at EBBA worked closely with acoustician Ethan Bourdeau to integrate acoustic treatments in clever and discrete methods from the outset. A significant portion of the space has been treated with acoustic panels, tidily concealed behind wall linings and timber panels, so as not to impact the design integrity.

It wouldn’t be a listening bar without a proper set of speakers, and what better way to approach this than a custom set, designed and manufactured by Friendly Pressure and Lewis Kemmenoe. A patchwork of textures and tones, these pieces become artworks in their own right, and speak to the materiality throughout the space, all the while emitting sweet sounds and encouraging the movement of people in and around Space Talk.

Turn that volume up, please.

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Inspired by research and the shape of the human ear, this building beckons nature to enter and exit the architecture at will. When it rains, sounds of water dripping meld with the performers...

[Images courtesy of EBBA. Photography by Ollie Tomlinson.]