House of Form
Audio By Carbonatix
The team behind several popular Valley bars plans to open a new, immersive cocktail experience in the West Valley late this year. The owners of 36 Below and Sip Coffee & Beer will unveil Emersa, an observatory-inspired lounge, in Buckeye.
Emersa is moving into Verrado Marketplace, located near Interstate 10 and Verrado Way. The developer approached owner Josh Katz and his wife, Chiara, about opening a cocktail bar there. Katz, who grew up in the West Valley, says it’s an area starved for this type of experience.
“Verrado is exciting. There’s a lot of stuff moving west,” he says. “There’s a lot of rooftops, and it’s just really screaming for some nightlife entertainment.”
Originally, the Katzes and the developer discussed bringing the timed, immersive subterranean cocktail bar, 36 Below, to Verrado. An above-ground new build didn’t feel like the right fit for a second location of the Arcadia bar, but Katz had other ideas in mind.
A date with his wife to the immersive “Beyond Van Gogh” experience sparked fresh inspiration. He dreamed of creating a domed bar where the environment above and around guests would tell a visual story — and one that would change regularly.
To bring the space to life, the Katzes have again teamed up with Phoenix design firm House of Form, which created the interiors for 36 Below. That bar, inspired by walipini underground greenhouses, sheds its skin several times a year and emerges with a fresh look and cocktails to match. Emersa will follow that format, “but take it up a notch,” says House of Form founder and CEO Dala Al-Fuwaires.
“This is meant to feel like an astronomer’s lab where you look out into the universe,” Al-Fuwaires says. “The idea is that every quarter you’d be transported to a new horizon or a new location.”
House of Form
What to expect at Emersa
When guests arrive, the observatory could appear to be above a desert, on the ocean’s edge or nestled in the mountains, Al-Fuwaires says. Katz shared other ideas, such as an observatory on Mars or underwater. To create this transportive bar, the team will use a mix of image stitching, projection mapping and high-resolution screens.
“The sky is really the limit in terms of what our abilities are to keep their environment ever changing and the experience fresh and new to people,” Katz says.
Similar to 36 Below, Emersa will be a timed 90-minute experience.
Although menus are still in the works, Katz says Emersa’s drinks and food selections will mirror the format at his other lounge as well. That means there will be six to eight cocktails inspired by the rotating bar theme, several classic tipples, wine and craft beer. A taut menu of light bites and bar snacks will also be available.
The dark, moody lounge will feel “otherworldly,” Al-Fuwaires says. A central bar will sit beneath the observatory’s dome, with booths and tables surrounding it.
“It’s far more dynamic. It’s not just two-dimensional in the sense that you’re looking out in one direction,” she says. “You can look out in multiple directions, and I think that makes it even more immersive.”
Emersa will be outfitted with custom tile, metal finishes and layered mirrors to amplify the projections around the room. Those details matter when it comes to enticing people to go out.
“We can make a fantastic cocktail at home,” Al-Fuwaires says. “Spaces are now challenged with creating something so unique that you want to make the trip to that environment, because it’s not something you can replicate at home. So what’s appealing to me is this transportive nature of stepping through a door and feeling like, ‘Whoa, where am I?’”
