A Rustic Tap Room in Singapore

Located in Singapore’s Geylang neighbourhood, American Taproom is Hmlet Interiors' modern take on a rustic beer and whiskey bar. Here, interior designer Amelia Koo tells us more about her approach to bringing modern elements into the bar while maintaining its industrial roots

Design Anthology: How did you first meet the client?

Amelia Koo: We met the client through a mutual friend in the F&B industry who knew we were drawn to a similar design style. The existing site of the bar was in very bad condition and we love working with old heritage buildings and take great pride in bringing them back to life.

What was their brief to you for the project?

The client already had another bar in Singapore, but they wanted us to come up with a completely new concept that was more polished and that would be a worthy flagship location. So our brief began with the brand and the target audience they wanted to appeal to, and we worked back from there. The client’s first bar features a lot of rusted metal and this was something we wanted to play with and enhance in the new location, along with bringing in a lot of modern features that would appeal to a wider demographic.

Where is the bar located and what makes the location unique?

The 185-square-metre bar is located in Geylang, which isn’t the first place you’d expect to find a high-end 40-tap craft beer bar. But this is exactly what the owner wanted — to bring his following of loyal customers out of the city and embrace a new part of Singapore. There are some great F&B concepts popping up in Geylang and attracting a vibrant and young crowd.

How did you approach the project — what design references or narrative did you try to incorporate into the space?

First, we assessed the health of the building and determined how much of the infrastructure we needed to replace, repair or rebuild to get the site ready. Our design approach was to embrace the colourful culture of the neighbourhood without straying from the bar’s branding and target market. The design is very much a mix of clean, modern fixtures underpinned by rough industrial materials that anchor the space as a beer and whiskey bar.

Can you tell us a little about the material choices for the space?

We really wanted to let the materials be the star of the show. For the most part, we used rusted metal and concrete screed left in their raw state to obtain the imperfect finish we were looking for.

Please tell us about some of the custom pieces for the space.

As the project was a full gut renovation, everything is actually a custom piece, even the teak chairs that were custom made in Indonesia. Our favourite piece has to be the curved rusted steel-clad bar, which is the nerve centre of the space.

Do you have a favourite element in the interiors?

Definitely the materiality. We used a lot of materials that age well, such as chemically rusted steel, leather and solid wood, which all fit into the design profile and can evolve together with the space.

What other features are you most excited about?

Probably the back bar. Its 40 taps are incorporated into a seamless design that showcases the bar’s whiskey and beer selection. The other area we love is the indoor-outdoor space we created to add more outdoor seating. While it does eat into the footprint of the building, it adds a new level of complexity that makes the space more unique.

Images / Amelia Koo