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"Bars with Great Design and Atmosphere\nWhether you're traveling the globe or just looking for a new neighborhood lounge, AD rounds up the bars that feature design as strong as their cocktails\nZebar, Shanghai\n\nStepping inside Zebar, with its undulating walls and ceiling crafted of curvaceous, glossy white ribs, feels a bit like boarding a futuristic spacecraft. Designed by 3Gatti, an architectural studio with offices in Rome and Shanghai, the spare, biomorphic interior transforms the tight quarters with cramped dimensions into a bright-white environment that encourages exploration. Belly up to the circular bar or relax on one of the low, snaking benches before catching one of the live music acts in the back.\nLa Boh\u00E8me, Porto, Portugal\n\nMaking a bold visual statement doesn't necessarily require an extravagant budget and precious materials. At La Boh\u00E8me, local firm AVA Architects designed a stylish interior envelope by using plain pine lumber as its signature material. At the entrance, zigzagging wood joists create the structure for a mezzanine and a double-height bar while also striking a casual, easygoing note. Spaces between wood studs ingeniously function as racks for wine storage, and simple pine stools and tables complete the natural, no-nonsense vibe.\nLe Bar Italien at La Mamounia, Marrakech, Morocco\n\nAn Italian-style bar, in Morocco, designed by a Frenchman\u2014it's no wonder that architect Jacques Garcia's Le Bar Italien at La Mamounia hotel feels so wonderfully exotic. Arabesque panels and screens enliven the architecture with intricate patterns, while barstools and armchairs upholstered in saffron velvet warm up the intensely intimate space. Soft, glowing pendant lamps introduce just a touch of mystery, hinting at the colorful city's past.\nThe Chandelier at the Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas\n\nEven in a neon-drenched city where anything goes, Rockwell Group's over-the-top design for the Chandelier at the Cosmopolitan resort and casino still stands out. Envisioned as an enormous inhabitable chandelier made with swagged crystal curtains, it features three different lounges\u2014below, within, and atop the supersize fixture. As if creating what is almost certainly the world's largest chandelier weren't enough, Rockwell Group's interactive effects team also programmed shifting light projections that pulse mesmerizingly across the strings of crystals.\nOzone, Hong Kong\n\nThe awe-inspiring views at Ozone, located on the 118th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong, are reason enough to have a few rounds at the bar. However, after taking the elevator up, you just might be too busy studying the details of the icily cool interior, created by Masamichi Katayama of the Tokyo-based design firm Wonderwall, to bother looking outside. Usually more of a minimalist, Katayama let his imagination run wild at Ozone, with long, faceted bars made of marble, geometric screens, and miles of polished and reflective surfaces.\nLe Bar du Bristol, Paris\n\nFor timeless elegance, it's difficult to beat Le Bar du Bristol. Although it just opened in the fall of 2012, it already has the feel of a place designed to be an enduring favorite, impervious to the whims and rigors of age. Created by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the French hospitality design giant behind countless luxury hotels and restaurants, in collaboration with hotel owner Maja Oetker, the bar boasts handsome pine-paneled walls and luxe seating, encouraging long evenings of contemplation and cognac.\nM. N. Roy, Mexico City\n\nM. N. Roy is full of surprises. A throbbing nightclub where money\u2014and bottle service\u2014talks, it's named after Manabendra Nath Roy, the Indian revolutionary who founded the Mexican Communist Party in the same building a century ago. From the exterior, it looks like a nondescript, rundown home; but step inside, and dramatically slanted walls clad in long strips of dark wood appear to stretch impossibly high in a freshly renovated space. Designed by Emmanuel Picault and Ludwig Godefroy, French architects based in Mexico, it makes a strong case for the power of contradictions.\nIl Bar at Bulgari Hotel, London\n\nItalian designers Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel have a knack for crafting pitch-perfect luxury. More concerned with hitting the right note for a specific site than with trends, the pair consistently create interiors that feel inviting and relevant. At Il Bar, they've deployed light and polish to cater to London's cosmopolitan vibe. The centerpiece is a silvery circular bar with a hammered finish, lovingly made by Italian craftsmen, though it looks as though it could have come from Anish Kapoor's studio.\nThe Edison, Los Angeles\n\nCreated by designer-entrepreneur-filmmaker Andrew Meieran, the Edison plays up the glamour and promise the City of Angels bore in the early 20th century. Housed in a 1910 structure that was one of L.A.'s early power plants, the bar retains many original architectural details and mechanical components, with the addition of sumptuous furniture, lighting, and dark-wood finishes that conspire to warm up the whole environment. By celebrating rather than scrapping such industrial details, Meieran offers patrons an experience they won't find anywhere else in town.\nExperimental Cocktail Club\n\nLocated on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the New York branch of the Experimental Cocktail Club (which also has outposts in Paris and London) is a mash-up between a classic New York speakeasy and colonial-era Asian hangout. While the pressed-tin ceilings and marble bar are familiar, bamboo-patterned wallpaper, rattan chairs, and pendant lamps recalling paper umbrellas hint at something far more fantastic. Designed by Paris-based Doroth\u00E9e Meilichzon, the expertly layered interior sets the stage for an evening of unexpected drinks.\nLe Bar du H\u00F4tel Plaza Ath\u00E9n\u00E9e, Paris\n\nDesigned by Paris-based Patrick Jouin, the bar at the H\u00F4tel Plaza Ath\u00E9n\u00E9e strikes a delicate balance between classic details and contemporary interventions. Although the architecture of the space features intricate paneling and stately wood columns, Jouin\u2014renowned as a cutting-edge furniture and product designer\u2014has inserted shapely modern chairs and light fixtures. A focal point is a sculptural glass bar that changes color to create different moods at different times of day\u2014blue for relaxed cocktails, red when the party heats up.\nPrincipe Bar, Milan\n\nAt the lavish Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan, the New York\u2013based French architect Thierry Despont has created an intimate bar that doesn't disappoint. Rich, warm, and inviting thanks to touches such as heavily veined marble slabs decorating the walls, stately banquettes, and select Italian textiles, the room exudes an amber glow. An oversize Murano-glass chandelier encircled by pillowy fabric makes the ceiling one of its most captivating features.\nO2 Lounge, Moscow\n\nAtop the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, O2 Lounge offers dramatic views of Russia's capital below, encompassing Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral, and the Kremlin. Contemporary outdoor chairs and sofas in simple shapes clad in beige leather do just what they need to\u2014provide generous, comfy perches that defer to the vista. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, visitors can seek shelter beneath a curvaceous steel and glass canopy."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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