Co Co. Sala, a 130-seat restaurant by day, lounge by night, designed by IA Interior Architects (IA), has opened its doors in the heart of the Penn Quarter area of Washington, D.C. It was created through a partnership between Nisha Sidhu, founder of The Sugar Gallery, Inc. and Bharet Malhotra, vice president of sales at Cvent, Inc, an online event planning company.

The space was designed to transition from a daytime café to a nighttime lounge. A jewelry box-inspired space houses high quality chocolates and confections in glass display cases, placed along the wall like artwork.

"We aimed to create a sophisticated space that would illustrate the multiple functions it supports," says project designer Alex Hurtado, associate.

The 5,000-sq.-ft.-space is divided into two areas by centralized bars wrapping around an existing brick wall. The pastry bar serves as the carry-out station by day, and as a full cocktail bar with ten seats at night. The 14-seat cocktail bar, used during dinner and lounge hours, is on the other side of the brick wall. Each bar is adjacent to a dining area. The daytime bar is next to a lounge furnished with velvet banquette seating and intimate dining tables are located in the cocktail bar area. Each dining area is accented with a dramatic "chocolate wave wall" made of dark wood that undulates from the ceiling. Guests arriving during the day enter the café side, and through a second entrance—delineated by a backlit onyx hostess stand—at night.

Reflective materials such as Italian red glass, iridescent gold mosaic tiles, and gold leaf gilding are used throughout the space. The color palette has rich tones of red, gold and chocolate brown. Biofuel-enabled flames illuminate glass boxes in the lounge and behind the hostess stand.

Other highlights of Co Co. Sala include a five-seat bar with views into a temperature and humidity controlled chocolate room. The 12-ft. by 6-ft. retractable glass window can open for special events and classes.

"The team at IA did an amazing job translating our vision for the space and making it a reality. It was a pleasure working hand in hand with them to achieve our inspiration of chocolate and luxury. The lounge and boutique ambiance is such an integral part of our concept, and to be able to bring it to life through the architecture and design is absolutely commendable," says Nisha Sidhu.