Sports Bars The Ace
Background and brief
The Ace is conceived as a contemporary sports bar and restaurant brand designed to redefine the way people gather around live sports, food, and social interaction. The brief called for an environment that blends the high-energy atmosphere of game day with a sophisticated yet relaxed hospitality experience suitable for everyday dining, after-work drinks, and communal social occasions. The design needed to accommodate a wide range of activities, from cheering on major sporting events with friends to enjoying a casual dinner, while maintaining a cohesive and impactful spatial identity.
The goal was to create an interior that could dynamically respond to live events and social traffic, offering guests a choice of experiences ranging from fully engaged, high-energy zones to more intimate, calm settings. The spatial challenge was to balance visual continuity with functional zoning, ensuring that guests feel seamlessly connected to the overall atmosphere while still able to define their own experience.
Our Solution
The design of The Ace organizes the interior into a sequence of clearly defined yet visually unified zones, allowing the space to accommodate different social dynamics while maintaining a strong overall identity. Central areas are anchored by large screens and stadium-style seating, creating a focal point for collective viewing and shared excitement during live sporting events. Surrounding these are more relaxed zones, including comfortable booths and lounge corners, offering quieter settings for conversation, casual dining, and smaller gatherings.
Materiality plays a key role in shaping the atmosphere and grounding the interior. A robust palette of exposed brick, black terrazzo flooring, antiqued metal panels, and warm teak wood establishes an industrial yet refined character that feels both contemporary and authentic. These harder surfaces are carefully balanced with leather upholstery, patinated copper details, and integrated greenery, adding warmth, texture, and comfort without diminishing the energetic spirit of the space. Custom-designed elements such as communal tables, grandstand-inspired seating, and layered shelving reinforce the brand identity while enhancing circulation and social interaction.
Lighting is layered to support both ambiance and functionality. Soft ambient lighting creates a welcoming backdrop, while targeted accent lighting highlights bar areas, seating clusters, and feature walls. This approach allows the interior to transition smoothly from daytime dining to high-energy evening events. Throughout the space, sports references are introduced with restraint through curated graphics, memorabilia, and interactive features, resulting in an interior that feels vibrant, sociable, and thoughtfully designed.
Services Provided
Project Completion Date
Summer 2025
Project Team
Nataša Ivanišević, Maja Matorić, Jeffrey J Vella










