The Pier Bar sits on the Cairns city promontory facing north looking across the Cairns Esplanade towards the Great Barrier Reef. Surrounded by the verdant Daintree and obsessed with underwater life, the Pier renovation reflects a desire to bring the North Queensland lifestyle directly into the interior space.

The original bar had a hard edged 1990s feeling that was incongruous with the seaside outlook. The designers wanted to give the crush crowd somewhere sheltered and cool to congregate, hence the interpretation of drinking under the pier. The pier structure set over your head has you with your feet in the sand, bordered by cool tiles and a rusted bar wall. What light penetrates from above lights the coral furniture, and the human ‘fish’.

The designers explored alternate layouts to both allow a casual daytime crowd, and a heavy evening crowd whilst always engaging with the boardwalk and view.

By flanking the bar alongside the boardwalk the expansive interior is opened up to create a seamless connection between indoors and outdoors. Set beneath the reclaimed timbers of a beachfront pier, the front of house is divided up to provide a variety of drinking and dining experiences. A lounge to one end of the bar can be separated by a large metal and rope sliding screen and booked for semi private events.

Mobile furniture and planters can be relocated on busy nights to make way for a dance floor in front of the stage with live music. Vertical timber batons behind the stage and DJ booth create a partially screened area for pool tables and overhead lights with giant colourful canvas shades.

Raw materials were selected throughout. The corten bar front is a sea soaked retaining wall beneath illuminated liquor, the hessian above the bar is the faded seaborne fabric, the furniture is the coral and the vertical timbers, the driftwood. Cool blues were used throughout to reflect the aquatic, harbouring intent of the venue.

The bar needed to be light, despite the sub marine theme. The walls were kept light to reflect the natural seaside light. The tiles are specified for outdoor pools and are a hardy luminescent backdrop. It was important that the feeling of being brightly lit yet under the sea remained. The timbers that reach down to the floor are weathered and dark. The rusted bar wall needed to be a recognizable port for customers, with the highly lit alcohol bottles forming their beacon.

The LED lighting slips through the cracks in the pier above. The bar and column lighting ties directly to the Titanic era ship lighting.