Heya! It’s a greeting. It’s a song by OutKast. It’s Japanese for room and it’s now an innovative multi-venue micro precinct in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley!

A wok’s throw from Chinatown, the team behind The Gresham, Popolo and Libertine has transformed this basement into a gritty, subterranean, Gorillaz meets Lost In Translation meets Tarantino-esque, Asian alleyway.

“Heya was inspired by a night we spent bar hopping through the alleyways of the Golden Gai in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where there are hundreds of small spiecialised bars. We took that idea of a collection of intimate rooms and then added in a live space, food and a pool hall to create a super versatile venue that can be little or large and work in many different ways. You can book out a bar with some mates. You can stage an intimate album launch in the live space or you can just drop in for a beer and a game of pool. The options are endless!” said owners Andrew Baturo, Denis Sheahan and Paul Piticco.

It’s a large open ‘semi-underground space’ with split levels and is also heritage listed. There are views from the street into the space through windows at footpath level.

For designers Surroundings, the inspiration from the clients was the ‘Golden Gai’, an area in Tokyo that houses numerous tiny bars in small lanes and streets. Surroundings interpreted special qualities such as layering, overlapping of bar signs, lights and graphics in the street, a sense of compression and multiplication. Where repetition of signage, door awnings, seating and other random things like bicycles and electrical wires create a sense of pattern and compression. These things carry into the interior of the bar spaces where multiple crates are stacked on each other and there is a sense that each bar is different and has been creatively pieced together by it’s owner over time.

Surroundings interpreted spatial qualities to create a street within the bar with multiple destinations - bars and seating areas as well as a dance floor and pool hall.

As with lots of hospitality projects, there was a short timeframe to design and document the project and a very short construction time.

The central ‘street’ provides circulation and links the multiple bars and destinations with two major spaces either end of the street - a live music and private functions area (which can be divided off by operable walls) at one end and a pool hall at the other.

The use of a range of materials including recycled and new timber, powdercoated metal, planting, concrete, textured fabrics and wall coverings and layering of art and objects create a sense of age and the haphazard. Surroundings also used glass and mirrors to create reflections and enhance the sense of multiplication and compression.

Strong colour choices were made with the designers using a range of different colours to highlight and signify the varied destinations and also to build on the haphazard feel. The gloss black ceiling in the street provides reflections and creates a sense of a night sky.
Recycled timber and dark stained timber build on the sense of raw materials and age.

Lighting is kept as low as possible while also using lights to define different spaces and signify different destinations. Surroundings used a lot of recycled and vintage light fittings and there is a string of lights that zig zag down the street to help define the street. Strip lighting is also used to highlight artwork walls and textures on bar fronts etc.

“It was an interesting design challenge because contrary to our normal approach of tying everything together and lining everything up, in this project we were working to misalign things and create contrast while still ensuring that visitors feel welcome and comfortable,” commented Laura Pascoe of Surroundings. “Having said that, the timber ‘framing’ in the street as well as the repetition of things like the lightbox signs, fabric ‘noren’ and graphic and applied artwork really tie the concept together.

“The whiskey or ‘Lonely Boy’ bar is a special space, tucked under the stairs, the raw concrete walls and ceiling reinforce the sense of cave while the bar joinery is refined and articulated. We used brass and timber, crystal ‘decanter’ lights to hint at quality and age. This is a special space where guests are hosted by their bar tender.”

Surroundings created a ‘rug’ in the cocktail bar to signify the lounge area. This is a traditional Japanese pattern stenciled onto the existing polished concrete floor.