Rotterdam’s Echo is a Tokyo-inspired listening bar inside the brutalist Groot Handelsgebouw

Creative director Jeff Hoogendijk, DJ and producer Khalil Ryahi and architect Paul Cournet have teamed up to open a listening bar in Rotterdam, featuring a bar made from shipping crates and ombré mirrors by Sabine Marcelis.

Inspired by visits to listening bars in Tokyo, the trio envisioned Echo as a flexible space that can host different events and activities, but primarily focuses on the experience of music.

Located on the ground floor of Groot Handelsgebouw, a post-war office block opposite Rotterdam Centraal station, the bar has an interior designed by Cournet’s architecture and design studio, Cloud.

Cournet said the idea was to adapt the concept of the listening bar to the creative energy of Rotterdam.

“We wanted to make it super local,” he told Dezeen.

The main bar, which functions as both a service counter and the DJ area, exemplifies this approach.

Built by Baleart Handlers, a company that manufactures wooden shipping crates specifically for transporting artworks, it’s a reminder that Rotterdam is home to Europe’s largest seaport.

Its sides are printed with the words “handled with care”, which became Echo’s tagline.

“We thought it would be so cool make the bar an art crate because we treated everything, from music to hospitality, as if it were art,” said Cournet.

“We always wanted to do everything in the best way possible.”

The space features several works by Rotterdam-based designer Marcelis, who is Cournet’s partner.

Her signature ombré mirrors adorn the walls, reflecting shades of red and gold, while a linear resin lamp hangs above the bar.

Polish brand Tylko supplied much of the furniture, including the modular shelving that extends across the walls to create space for displaying vinyl.

Cournet previously worked with the furniture company on its Berlin showroom, a project that led to a collaboration with audio company Form Follows Frequency.

Together, they developed a colourful system of speakers and subwoofers that slot precisely into Tyklo’s shelving, which launched earlier this year.

These speakers form part of the sound system for Echo, along with two sculptural speaker towers that stand either side of the bar.

“There’s a contrast between the rawness of the exposed concrete and the more refined elements, like the sound system or Sabine’s mirrors,” said Cournet.

“When you put them together, it creates a tension that I find interesting. The concrete feels a bit softer.”

ECHO is one of several listening bars to have opened recently – with others including Bar Bardo in Milan and Upstairs at Hausu in London – but it is the first of its kind in Rotterdam.

The space shifts from a coffee shop by day to a bar by night, and includes a curated retail offering.

It can also morph to accommodate exhibitions, listening sessions of 20 to 40 people, or seated dinners for up to 40 guests.

Since opening in early September, the team has invited various local record stores to contribute to the event programme.

“Rotterdam has this really long history with music, with a lot of famous DJs and people who were pioneers in the music scene in the 1990s and 2000s,” added Cournet.

“It feels like the project has really resonated with that community.”

Photography by Sophia van den Hoek

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