Event: Heineken’s ‘Pop-Up City Lounge’ at the London Design Festival

Heineken recently unveiled a premium, design-focused lounge bar at London Design Festival, the latest chapter of its open innovation journey. Making its UK debut, the ‘Pop-up City Lounge’ is the second edition in the brand’s ‘Open Design Exploration’ series and was created by twenty young designers from across the globe, crafted in response to suggestions of what the ultimate lounge bar should be from tens of thousands of consumers, who shared inspirational images on Instagram.

Hidden behind the industrial, corrugated iron shell of two 40ft shipping containers, the ‘Pop-Up City Lounge’ was an intriguing space full of cutting-edge design features created to optimise the nightlife experience. The lounge was a product of the brand’s commitment to exploring social design, a concept that premiered in London before embarking on a tour of global nightlife hotspots.

Mexican interior designer Victor Hugo Jimenez created intricate ‘conversation cocoons’ which were at the core of The Lounge. In response to the two thirds of bar-goers who felt a lounge bar is the best place to go for a good conversation with their closest friends. The cocoons were built in various sizes to accommodate small or larger groups, which provided a feeling of exclusivity to their occupants.

Smaller cocoons featured reclining seats to encourage close conversation, whilst the larger areas had more upright chairs so that bigger groups could talk all together, but all the while, visitors could sense what is happening around them at The Lounge. After finding that the Instagram moment of a night out is capturing the excitement of the drinks arriving, Heineken created theatrical serving rituals, and invited the consumer to mix and match ingredients to their taste – offering a brand new experience worthy of sharing online.

Waitresses delivered exclusive and delicately blended ‘hoptails’, such as the ‘London Lush’ and ‘Beerito’, and served bottles of beer in exclusive trays constructed from ice. Lengthy bar queues was a thing of the past at the lounge: with the simple flick of a switch, visitors could make their cocoon glow, alerting serving staff to deliver more drinks without having to break from conversation. The Lounge was open in London until 21st September before it went travelling on a tour of global cities.

Carrie Wadkins

To follow Heineken® on Twitter visit here and to become a fan on Facebook go to their page. More information about Open Design Explorations is available also by clicking here.