New York in Neukölln – what a challenge! The Estrel Hotel on Ziegrastraße dared to create an entirely different world in its basement levels. Berlin architect Tanja Lincke rose to this challenge with remarkable skill. The nearly museum-like space commands attention the moment you enter it. The carefully calibrated colour palette works as a unified composition: muted rose tones blend seamlessly with the dark green of the central bar, punctuated by strips of light tracing the ceiling.

The brief was clear: redesign and rebuild the bar from the ground up. The first move was radical—completely reorganizing the spatial layout. A bar's heart is its counter, and it had been relegated to one long wall of this rectangular, windowless room. Lincke moved it to the centre, transforming it into an unmissable focal point that glows like a luminous shrine. Two obstacles sat squarely in the middle of the room: a ventilation system and a support column. Rather than work around them, Lincke integrated both as deliberate architectural elements, now integral to the bar's confident form. Black mirrored panels serve as a backdrop, showcasing shelves of glasses and bottles. The result? The 150 m² space feels noticeably larger than before, an effect amplified by the raised ceiling height above the bar area itself.

Atmosphere is everything in a bar. It's a sanctuary sealed off from the world—an alternate reality. Lincke achieves this through meticulously coordinated materials and a sophisticated interplay of colour and light. The lighting design is intentionally dim, enhanced by the abundance of black, reflective, and polished surfaces. Floor and walls reinforce the sensation of being enclosed within a glass sanctuary. A new dance floor anchors the back section, adding another layer of experience. The 1980s seating has been retained but completely reimagined—expansive sofas now sport a daring yet perfectly balanced palette: mustard velvet on the backrests, soft pink on the seats. Refined, never overwrought. Gold-based tables with black glass tops, trimmed with decorative brass bands, sit between the sofas. The bar itself is wrapped in gossamer-thin green marble, while a green light strip running along the ceiling doubles down on the malachite effect. Everything bathes in this greenish luminescence, turning that final drink into the perfect punctuation to the evening.

Standing before Tanja Lincke's New York Bar, you're inevitably drawn to Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks." The colour palette carries echoes of that painting's mood—a temporal leap from now back to the 1940s. Yet even absent the human figures, this bar channels the same atmosphere: the quiet intimacy of late night, the gentle murmur of bar music, a touch of liquor-soaked melancholy. These elements converge to define the space's intoxicating character.

www.tanja-lincke-architekten.com

Photography Credits:

Noshe
www.noshe.com

(Published in CUBE Berlin 01|22)