Downtown Design
redazione 28/06/2025

Tropics in Amsterdam

The Sonora Cocktail Bar, located on the 24th floor of the Nhow Amsterdam hotel, evokes a fantasy jungle complete with golden idols and mythical creatures. Project by El Equipo Creativo

Interior Design: EL EQUIPO CREATIVO/Oliver Franz Schmidt, Natali Canas del Pozo, Lucas Echeveste Lacy
Gastronomic concept: Younique
Lighting design: MMAS lighting
Construction & fit out: Martinez Otero
Decorative greenery: Bossvi
Kitchen equipment: Pilsa
Kitchen planner: VIJVERBORGH
Acoustic consulting: Level Acoustics & Vibration BV
Audio visual: Bazelmans
Flooring: Cotlin
Finishes: Formica, Finsa
Fabrics: Grupo LaMadrid
Ceramics: Matter Atelier
Photography: Adrià Goula

Paloma Rubia, L’Azul, Caiman Club, Batanga, Cereza, El Molle, Puma Punka, Mi Corbata, Los Valles, and others are the cocktails served on the 24th floor of the OMA-designed tower in the RAI convention center area that houses Nhow Amsterdam. Names chosen to suggest the history, myths and adventures of Latin America, its geography and riches. Even the shapes in the ‘landscape’ imagined by El Equipo Creativo studio, which designed the interiors, hark back to pre-Columbian golden idols, mythical creatures, and the waters and vegetation of the tropical jungle.

The imposing bar counter, the epicenter of attraction of the space and the gaze, is a structure with a circular volume with a shimmering golden finish that expands on the ceiling with organic and rounded shapes, a true “golden idol in the jungle.” A reimagined and conceptual jungle, with green plants scattered everywhere, plant and aquatic patterns in the textile floor covering, treated glass surfaces mimicking the flow of water, sugary colors and intricate patterns for stools, armchairs and sofas. The allure of the tropics with a view of the Amsterdam cityscape: the space’s triangular shape and transparent facades force the gaze to move alternately from the ‘golden creature’ at the center of the cocktail bar to the expansive horizon outside.

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