Dakota Bar and The Odeon Bar
Thriving city centre bars
Located in the heart of the Dublin, Dakota Bar is recognised as one of the city’s leading bar/restaurants. In 1999 RKD was appointed to carry out a complete refit of the front section of the premises, followed up in 2004 by an extension to the rear, creating an innovative double-frontage to take full advantage of Dakota’s prime location between two busy streets.
The brief called for a New York style warehouse/loft atmosphere and RKD adopted this direction as the main driver of the design. The interior includes a main bar, designed by RKD, and a long unpolished black granite top suspended between structural columns. The bar was made on site from salvaged wall panelling and finished in black matt granite and is a striking feature.
The Odeon Bar was originally a central Dublin Railway Station, which closed over 50 years ago. In the interim, the building was used as government offices and later as a bank, before it was taken over by a development company, which added mezzanine walls and partitions.
In 1997, RKD Architects was appointed to convert the now listed building into a bar. RKD’s overall response was to sympathetically restore the building’s authentic spaces while providing flexible spaces for some 1,500 patrons over two floors. As a result, a theme was developed which orientated around the age of railway travel in the 1920’s and 1930’s and its intricate association with ocean liners of the same period. The overall design has created an atmosphere that takes the visitor back in time to a forgotten era when railways were an important part of Dublin’s infrastructure.
Location
- Dublin, Ireland
Area
- 781 sq. m (Odeon) / 1,200 sq. m (Dakota)
Completion
- 2004
Cost
- €1.5m