Headed North Design Studio emblem — arc, mountain triangle and horizon bars HEADED NORTH design studio
Aerosky at night from the air — the lit balloon sculpture on the tenth-floor roof, the Aerosky sign on the parapet, and Kolkata spreading out behind
Hospitality · Kolkata · Interiors

Aerosky Bar & Kitchen

Type
Rooftop pub & lounge
Size
6,000 sq ft
Location
VIP Road, Kolkata
Completed
February 2024
Layout
Development massing sequence in four steps

Two disconnected volumes joined in four moves: connect them, cut a skylight, add the MS staircase and canopy, then lift a deck over the mezzanine.

Furniture layout plan

Guest and staff flow set before anything was ordered.

Annotated sectional view through the rooftop

Section through the rooftop, every zone labelled: canopy, balloon, DJ booth, the air-conditioned inner section, the elevated pizza counter, mezzanine deck and skylight.

Exploded axonometric of the rooftop

Exploded axonometric — rooftop, mezzanine and service levels pulled apart.

Detail drawing of the hot-air balloon structure

Astro Babu's balloon, resolved as a fabricable MS frame.

Conceptual sketch of the rotating bar

Twenty feet of storage segments on a central axis.

Building it
The indoor section under construction

Structure complete, finishes starting.

Arched window frames being installed

Arched window frames going in.

A backlit porthole window, glazed, with the surrounding wall still unfinished

A porthole glazed and backlit, the wall around it still unfinished.

A balloon pendant's wire frame held up against the plywood porthole wall

The balloon pendant's wire frame, offered up against the plywood porthole wall.

Lime plaster being applied by hand, the porthole windows already cut

Lime plaster going on by hand, the porthole windows already cut.

The balloon frame being assembled on the roof

Assembled on the roof, ten floors up.

As built
The bar in close view

One full revolution every ten seconds, clad in stone veneer and PVD brass over the MS frame.

Bar seating detail

Seating detail at the counter.

The finished balloon structure lit at night

Lit from within, and the reason people climb the stairs.

The finished paper planes along the window line

Catching the light off the city.

A wall of backlit model aircraft above the DJ deck

Backlit model aircraft ranked across the wall above the DJ deck.

The Aerosky balloon mark and wordmark, backlit on a ribbed wall

The identity, backlit on the ribbed wall.

The washroom corridor, with neon lettering and backlit circular relief panels

The washroom corridor — Dada, ektu dekhi! in neon, Bengali for “let me have a look, brother”, against backlit circular reliefs.

The indoor section, with paper planes suspended on wires beneath origami balloon pendants

The indoor section — paper planes on wires, origami balloon pendants, and the aircraft wall beyond.

Dining seating zones at night

Seating as airport-lounge zones.

The premium mezzanine deck

150 sq ft of premium deck, 360 degrees of Kolkata.

From above
The finished rooftop from the air by day

One continuous room, from the air.

The mezzanine deck from above

The Runway — the mezzanine deck.

Aerosky from the air at night, the lit globe on the terrace and the AEROSKY sign on the parapet

The rooftop from the air, the only way to see it whole: the lit globe over the terrace, the sign along the parapet, the city flat behind.