LogoLounge

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Kiku Obata & Company re-

cently completed an identity

and architectural/interior de-

sign project that afforded it

aunique opportunity: to de-

sign a completely new office

space for itself.

The Pageant is a brand-new building in St. Louis’s eclectic “Loop”

neighborhood. The 50,000-square-foot (4,645-square-meter),

three-story building has four components: The Pageant, a 33,000-

square-foot (3,066-square-meter) live entertainment club; The Halo

Bar; two street

-level retail spaces; and 14,000 square feet (1,301

square meters) of office space now occupied by Kiku Obata’s team.

Obata’sclient, developer Joe Edwards, wanted to create a vibrant

music venue that would become a city landmark. His brick-and-

stucco building was designed to match the neighborhood, and in

fact it looks almost as if it had been renovated, not newly built.

Kiku Obata’s designers created its remarkable marquee, a clas-

sic neon theater sign that glows invitingly against the building’s

yellowish color.

But the interior design and logo of The Pageant are anything but

classic. “The logo was meant to be dynamic and really move,”

explains principal Kiku Obata. Below the name, a circular shape

mimics a spotlight to highlight the new hot spot’s location in the

Loop. “The letters on the logo feel like they are moving,” Obata

says. “‘Grooves and moves, slams and jams, hip and hot, shim-

mies and shakes’ are all verbs we used as visual cues.”

The designers applied the same “action verb” mentality to the

business cards they designed for the client: “Joe Edwards’s card

reads ‘

Joe Edwards manages The Pageant,’” says Obata, “and

the custodian for the place would have a card that says, ‘John

Doe cleans The Pageant.’”

They continued the same sense of physical activity inside The

Pageant. Everywhere, there is color. The ceilings are a dark purple-

blue, except in the bar, where it is a rich, golden yellow. Bright hues

that accent the stairs and exits make way- finding simple, even

when the lights are low. The space is designed to hold many

different seating arrangements, depending on whether there is a

heavy metal band on stage or the Rams football game is being

shown on giant screens when the team is out of town.

Obata’s fi

rm’s office space tak es its design cues from The

Pageant. References to performance are everywhere, with scaf-

folding, backdrops, and stage lighting part of the scheme. Also, a

huge green curtain very like a stage curtain hides a storage area.

Whether designing an interior space or an identity, Obata says it

is crucial to define what kind of experience is being offered. “You

must understand the special qualities of the company, individual,

or space, and then be able to translate that understanding into

materials and sequencing,” she says.

The Pageant

Interior Design and Identity

Kiku Obata & Company, St. Louis, MO

Credits

©2002 Kiku Obata & Company

Photographer: Jon Miller, Hedrich Blessing Photographers