AER
Multi-venue rooftop space
The Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai
Provenance Land
2023 ongoing
The bar atop Four Seasons Mumbai, an icon in the local party and music scene, and a bright spot in the fine drinking culture of India, is undergoing a transformation. What was once a single venue will become two, each with a distinct approach to drinks, music and the art of communing under the open night sky.
photos courtesy of Four Seasons and Jaideep Oberoi
The heritage of AER is built on great events and a community of devoted Mumbai revelers who bring celebration to the greatest height of sophistication. This milieu will be at the core of all four of our new Mumbai venues, as we reinvent the story of this destination with narratives of design and community that are both inspired by the past and looking toward the future. Starting with the Yacht Club.
As any visitor to AER has seen, the space is all about floating above the city at night, buoyed by fine drinks, music and the company of friends. These simple pleasures are only extended with the introduction of new a set of spaces that bring a more intimate scale to the gatherings while maintaining the focus on the fundamentals.
To achieve an new layer of varied architecture that didn’t spoil the party, we dove into some of our favorite challenges in the art of hospitality design, creating spaces that are defined flexibly, with soft distinctions in areas of gathering, their borders suggested with planting, changes in heights of seating, variations in lighting, and material changes.
The two areas of the roof take different points of view on their perch over the urban panorama. On one side, facing the city view, the vibe is more inward looking, with the guests gathered around the drinks maestros like an audience and easily within range of conversation with all those gathered. Definitely the more quietly romantic of the two roof areas, this garden side is its own world, The Gimlet Garden.
The Gimlet Garden (left) and Yacht Club (right) are connected by a narrow corridor through the rooftop mechanical zone. This necessary corridor was turned into an otherworldly journey between zones, with bands of stone and mirror amplifying the drama of sunset and heightening the sense of celebration for guests’ arrival into party. The intense pattern in timeless carrara and nero marquina play alongside themes like white lattice archways, teak wood paneling and brass details to render a cheeky vignette of leisure boating life—one just close enough to an ocean to allow the liberty of such a narrative.
Upon arrival, the vast seaside panorama that most know unofficially at the Yacht Club is as open and outward looking as ever, but with a new sense of hospitality, where the bar is at the center of a series of carefully planned groups of seating, a far cry from the old dancefloor vibe of its previous life. To create this collection of gathering spaces we developed a rich program of custom furnishings, millwork and lighting to help establish the unique language of each area.
Our project involved several iterations of concept develop and test-fit plans, in order to strike the perfect balance in the use of all available space. In a fun sideroad along this process, we explored carving out space from the kitchen for the “commodore bar.” Shown in concept form here, this space later evolved to become a secret bit of curated fine drinking experience, as yet to be announced.
Project Status
The project is still officially in progress. AER encompasses the entire rooftop with its distinct areas. While the Yacht Club—or seaward side—of AER has opened as of September 2023, the Gimlet Garden is in its final stages of completion.
Press
Mumbai’s favorite rooftop bar reopens… - Architectural Digest India
Up in the ‘AER’ with Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai - Four Seasons Hotels announces
The All New AER opens at Four Seasons - Business Traveler
The Project Team
Owner: Provenance Land
Beverage concepts & operation: Proof & Company
Lighting: Nipek Lighting Design Collective
Custom Furniture: Saniharto
Custom Lighting: Ricardo, and RBW
Millwork & fabrication: Hariom Interiors
Following AER, and The Modernist Club, our work at Four Seasons Mumbai continues, with new concepts and designs for the all day restaurant and Japanese-inflected fine dining with a hidden listening bar.