Johnnie Walker Green Label Tasting Room
Taipei
Big Bright Room Co.

	Index | Project Specs
	Click here for slide show. Photo © Marc Gerritsen/Arcaid

Nature, both real and virtual, guides visitors through a subterranean bar

For its tasting room in Taipei, Taiwan, the Johnnie Walker whiskey brand sought to interest customers in the history, geography, and taste of whiskey—especially its special Green Label blend. Using the ingredients of blended whiskey as their inspiration, Big Bright Room Co. designed a space that combines real nature with virtual representations of nature. Nature, whether real or virtual, forms a narrative spine that guides customers through the bar—a neat contrast to its highly urbanized surroundings.

The bar’s facade is a continuous vertical planting of green grass sealed into a sandwich of glass panels. Customers enter at ground level and then descend a set of stone stairs; grass, planted horizontally along the wall at the end of the hallway, guides them on their journey down to the tasting room. Three over-sized glowing vases with plants inside surround the entrance.

The architects lined the walls of the subterranean bar with highly polished, stainless-steel panels that, like mirrors, reflect the entire space and create the illusion that it stretches infinitely. They planted wheat grass directly into the tabletops, introducing the feel and smell of real nature. Twenty-nine video screens, mounted on the walls and floor, display three-dimensional images of Scotland’s landscapes—a feature that reinforces the concept of journeying into nature

Formal name of project:
Johnnie Walker Green Label Tasting Room

Location:
Taipei

Gross square footage:
1,388 sq. ft.

Owner:
Diageo Taiwan

Architect:
Big Bright Room Co.
2F., No.14, Lane 170
Tong Hua St., Taipei 106, Taiwan
886-2-2733-8539 tel.
886-2-2733-9085 fax

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