Long considered either of marginal importance or the domain of specialised firms, the design of bars, cafes and gathering places has recently proved to be an unexpectedly fertile outlet for new expression in ambience design, spawning entirely novel entertainment venues of high-octane visual appeal. Often theme-based, the new ambiences have pushed back the traditional frontiers of the discotheque format, giving rise to inspired combinations of materials and colour, jazzed-up reworkings of past styles, futuristic and high-tech scenarios that rehearse urban living and the townscape, in which architecture reveals its playful underside.