PROJECT 1 031
PROJECT INFO Client
Olly Bengough, founder, CEO and creative director of KOKO
Architect Archer Humphryes Architects
archerhumphryes.com
Interior design Pirajean Lees
pirajeanlees.com Olly Bengough, KOKO
Size 5,308 sq m
Completed April 2022
This page, clockwise Deep wood hues and marble-eff ect surfaces adorn bar surfaces. This can be more clearly seen in the bespoke bar designed by Pirejean Lees. The House of KOKO also features a library, decorated in Bohemian style
an intimate, immersive performance space. Its exposure restores the original acoustics of the auditorium and is the only fly tower used operationally in a hospitality environment in the UK.
Working alongside Bengough and Archer Humphryes Architects since 2017, Pirajean Lees has created bespoke interior design for 16 new spaces, including a beautiful new roof terrace and restaurant, dome cocktail bar, penthouse and recording studio, piano room, library, a hidden speakeasy, stage kitchen, cocktail bar and secret vinyl rooms.
What’s unusual, but utterly brilliant, about this project is the creative relationship between client, architect, and designer. Bengough worked at ground level to help deliver the project with both Archer Humphryes and Pirajean Lees, which he collaborated with to deliver the interior scheme. And together they have designed some 1,800 sq m of new interior spaces, including four new floors for a members club called The House of KOKO, the ground floor Café KOKO and KOKO’s new shop and DJ space. For Bengough, he says the latest transformation was as much about personality as design flair:
‘When thinking about the design of the new KOKO, it was so important for me to work with
a studio as collaborative as Pirajean Lees. Together we have been on this extraordinary creative journey; I wanted to create a one-off experience that celebrated everything that KOKO represents – its history, beauty, artistic legacy – and Pirajean Lees really understood this vision’.
The interior design concept for The House of KOKO pays homage to the history of the timeless theatre, from its colourful Victorian origins to the Bohemian lifestyles of its many past performers such as Charlie Chaplin, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols, Grace Jones, Kanye West, among many others. It’s the brilliant result of a collaborative, creative – yet challenging – journey, for a team that clearly works well together. This is echoed throughout Pirajean Lee’s answers.
‘Olly’s brief was very simple but equally ambitious; his vision was to create something that “redefined music and entertainment”’, says James Lees of Pirajean Lees. ‘The venue’s enormous legacy, with 200 years of history combined with Olly’s vision to combine three historical buildings into one, gave us the opportunity to design something completely unique and that had never been seen before anywhere. KOKO is a unique off ering in the global music industry. It is creatively daring.’
Pirajean Lees took inspiration from how the theatre would have lived and breathed. Anchored in this strong narrative, each room has its own identity, reflecting all elements required to operate a theatre. From the first floor stage kitchen which takes inspiration from the ironmongery; to the bathrooms, inspired by backstage hair and make-up rooms where performers would get ready. Influenced by the old screen-printing rooms, Ellen’s Jazz and Blues Club features a hand-painted mural by Christopher Lux, while intimate vinyl listening booths reference what could have been KOKO’s old lighting storage rooms. Throughout the interiors, Pirajean Lees has introduced bespoke features, design elements and furniture that acknowledge the language of the music industry and KOKO’s colourful past. Textures, patterns and materials used throughout The House of Koko are inspired by the Bohemian styles of legendry KOKO performers. In the Vinyl Rooms, a bespoke ceiling references the structure of the original fly tower, and the Battens Bar features a vintage speaker fabric used as a ceiling finish. A bespoke leather sofa in the piano room harks back to the punk era, while the one-of-a-kind cigarette carpet in Ellen’s creates an intimate salon ambience of a traditional 1940’s jazz bar.
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