In Mexico City’s Condesa neighborhood, a new bar called Sona offers a unique experience, focusing on sound rather than cocktails. Designed by Épico Estudio and Panorama, Sona combines raw materials, high-fidelity audio, colored light, and tea service to create an immersive experience.
The 245-square-metre venue is located in the semi-basement of a 1960s building and is accessed through glass and black metal doors. The space is divided into three parts: threshold, tea area, and listening room, with a flexible gallery area for exhibitions and events.
The sensory experience begins at the entrance, where a lowered ceiling creates a sense of compression, and live audio from the Macaw Sanctuary in Costa Rica streams through sculptural speakers. The tea area features raw concrete walls, original pressed-glass windows, and a custom-built central bar serving Japanese teas.
Architect Erik López states that the exposed concrete informed the design, and everything is raw because of that. The tea area is anchored by a faux-concrete central bar, which serves as a reception and information desk, and a tea service station.
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The listening room is a screen-free space where guests can store their belongings in custom-built lockers and grab a pillow, blanket, and eye mask. The acoustic treatments, created by Ethan Bourdeau, line the walls and integrate the audio system, including Dolby Atmos spatial audio technology and a Devon Turnbull-designed analog stereo system.
The ceiling in the listening room features a central light source that displays color gradients, which can be calibrated to match and enhance the music. This unique setup allows for a fully immersive experience, making sound the focus of the space.
Sona’s design is inspired by early-20th-century Japanese jazz kissa’s and American composer Pauline Oliveros’s theories of Deep Listening. The space is intended to turn passive listening into a conscious act, where music and sound become an immersive and multi-sensory experience.
The ceiling’s central light source, which displays color gradients, adds to the immersive experience, making it a unique feature of the space.
