Fact File
Typology: Hospitality
Name of Project: Hunka Hunka Town
Built-Up Area: 2065 sq.ft
Location: Sector 26, Chandigarh
Principal Architects: Amit Aurora, Rahul Bansal
Lighting: Brite light
Sanitaryware / Fittings : Toto/American Standard
Paint: Asian Paints
Interior Contractor: DCA workshop
Photographer: Andre J.Fanthome
The challenge was to establish 'a connect' – recreating a spatial experience based on the core philosophies of the 60s. The design involved utilizing contemporary sensibilities to create an aesthetic that is archaic and contextual to a past time
Ar. Amit Aurora & Ar. Rahul Bansal
Hunka Hunka Town is a hang-out place, paying tribute to the 60s and 70s of rock and roll, which defined music and lifestyles in the coming years. The small restaurant follows a retro background to portray the old school rock, while making it coherent to the young and contemporary. Visualized as a social experience for millennial consumers, the ambiance lends an immersive form of nostalgia. One instantly perceives the shift in paradigm upon walking in. A chequered terrazzo chessboard floor and a predominant black and white theme transports you to the ages when monochrome was the new trend.
The central seating features a series of lighting fixtures arranged in parallels; the custom-made fixtures are made from old vinyl recordings. As a prominent visual element, these fixtures provide the theme of nostalgia to the restaurant. There is minimum use of colors and too much variety has been avoided to bring in a laidback yet jazzy persona to the space. The walls are covered with posters displaying iconic rock legends performing live and with vinyl records. Replicas of the dresses that Presley wore while performing has been put on display alongside guitars, gramophones and other antiquities. The subtle iconographies and the washroom signages are also inspired from musical notes.
In the bar, leather chairs sit in harmony with the matte black finish of the bar counter. The liquor counters at the back are constructed in a staggered pattern; custom manufactured lights have been fixed inside unidyne microphones, and hung at varying lengths over the bar, creating an interesting interplay of light and shadows.
