A museum, a set, a city—every space holds a story
The Thirsty Lawyer
What happens when a space is designed like a character?
The Thirsty Lawyer is not just a bar. It’s a place with a story, a mood, and a stage presence. Nestled in Valletta’s historic Strait Street—once Malta’s red-light and nightlife district—this location demanded more than function. It required drama.
A collaboration between structure and storytelling. Bureau 105 led the transformation of the space from its foundations to its atmosphere. The structural engineering respected the heritage of the building while enabling a layered spatial experience. The architectural layout was composed like a script—guiding the visitor through distinct acts: public, intimate, and secret.
More information
Inspired by Art Deco with a noir twist, the interior design created a visual rhythm, reinforced by lighting that shapes the tone of each scene. The graphic identity gave the bar its own voice: a logo that speaks of the prohibition era, and a clock that marks no time—just presence. Even the stage was not a decorative addition but a structural gesture. Designed collaboratively by a Perit and a graphic designer, it emerged as a performative nucleus where spatial logic meets symbolic form.
The iron gate at the entrance is more than a functional threshold—it marks the shift from the outside world into an immersive fiction. The ceiling of the private lounge and the geometry of the stage were shaped as much by engineering as by metaphor. The custom-designed clock doesn’t tell time—it sets a mood. The identity of the place was never printed onto the space. It was built into it.
A film set that became a bar—or vice versa.
A film set that became a bar—or vice versa.
The Thirsty Lawyer has been used as a location in two international film productions.
That’s not a coincidence. The space is cinematic because it was designed as narrative
from the beginning.
What this project proves:
That architecture, engineering and design can stop being departments—and become one voice. That spaces can speak. That stories can be built.
That architecture, engineering and design can stop being departments—and become one voice. That spaces can speak. That stories can be built.
Accident Man 2
Grand Duke of Corsica
—
Client: The Thirsty Lawyer
Architecture / Interior / Structural Engineering: Jeanette Muñoz Abela
Graphic Design / Interior: Luis Muñoz
Graphic Design / Interior: Luis Muñoz
Discipline: Brand Identity, Interiors, Architecture, Structural Engineering
