Queen Mary college bar doubles in refit

Queen Mary and Westfield College has a new student bar interior, created by Paragon Design Group .

The ú250 000 London college bar has a new floor plan with space for 550 people, almost double its previous capacity.

Paragon’s brief was to take an institutionalised room used for performance purposes by the college and turn it into a modern venue, with disco area, cinema facilities and a snooker room. “We’ve used the space much more efficiently,” says Paragon project designer Nick Mee, who has previously worked on a lounge bar for the client. He describes the new interior as “sophisticated and hard-edged, a juxtaposition of curved shapes and forms, customised furniture and hard metal finishes”.

Paragon, which merged with Mark Plumtree Associates last October, has previously designed bars for Manchester Polytechnic and Swansea University students’ unions.