Like the other two restaurants in the Clancy’s family, Clancy’s Fishbar in City Beach, Australia, needed an atmosphere of informality and fun. “The brief was to bring these elements to a beachside setting and to create a space where you could comfortably arrive straight in off the beach in trunks and flip-flops and enjoy a beer,” explains architect Paul Burnham, adding that he has known owners Joe and John Fisher for more than 20 years. “[It’s] a loose visual reference of a 1960s-style beach shack with loads of color.”

Burnham designed brightly colored fabric chandeliers, which not only fill the large volume space and frame the long and horizontal views of the Indian Ocean, but also contrast the newly painted charcoal ceiling. “They introduce a new cheerful and playful element, appearing to be held together and suspended by an assortment of old beach towels.”

But that wasn’t his only use of color. He outfitted the rest of the open-air space with Harlequin furniture-multicolored timber slatted armchairs, floor art, lobster pot lights with suspended sea anemone lamps, and vibrant stools and chairs.

“It’s not a typical finely executed and refined interior designed space-it is a place that doesn’t take itself seriously at all,” Burnham says, adding that he worked with Plumb Design on lighting and graphics, and Barbones ArtSpace on the chairs. “The project was great fun and benefited from an endlessly enthusiastic client willing to embrace all my silly ideas.”

Next up: Burnham is designing Clancy’s Fish Pub in Dunsborough, the wine region of Western Australia.