56 FOCUS Project
Odd One Out Tea, Santa Monica, US
WICK ARCHITECTURE & Design and Land Design Studio have collaborated to create the brand design of the Santa Monica store of Odd One Out Tea, a Taiwanese company that has taken the concept of traditional bubble tea to new heights. With two stores in Taiwan, including the company’s flagship store in Taipei, Odd One Out Tea has now opened its second US outlet in Santa Monica, California, furthering its expansion into the US market with teams of mixologists, tea experts, and gelato maestros. Te project revolved around an existing commercial space on Santa Monica’s Tird Street Promenade, a popular pedestrian mall that began to flourish in the 1980s when closed off to traffic. In addition to traditional stores that line the sides of the mall, its central corridor is marked by a series of kiosk-style businesses that cater to the pedestrian flow. Te proposed colour scheme for the Odd One Out Tea store required extensive negotiations with the city before finally being approved. ‘A large part of the negotiations revolved around being able to rebrand the entire pavilion, which had not been in the mindset of the city,’ explains David Wick, principal and lead designer of Wick Architecture & Design. ‘With additional municipal restrictions on altering the roof and signage, our recommendation was that the building itself should be the sign, branded in the colours of the client’
Once approved, the designers focused on a signature move to rebrand the exterior of the structure in a colourful way, while also maintaining the existing shell of the building, including its rolling garage doors. Tey focused on a full redesign of its gutted interior. Tat included opening up the front half of the building for customers to place their orders and sit and enjoy their drinks in an open, but sheltered space.
Above and right The project revolved around an existing commercial space on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, a popular pedestrian mall that began to flourish in the 1980s
With the existing layout of the coiling garage doors, the firm faced a challenge in terms of the placement of lighting fixtures. However, in envisioning ‘unintentional’ lighting from the onset, their design solution was to introduce simple globe lighting to attract the eye to the ordering station, but without distracting from the overall design of the space. To convey the sense of pride that the company has in its craft preparation processes, the design team decided to expose the front- of-house production kitchen by implementing a glass divide behind the front counter. To further highlight the production zone, they punched a series of windows in the pavilion’s exterior shell to enable passers-by to take in the kitchen operations and entice them to indulge in the products being prepared. In addressing municipal restrictions concerning signage, the firm evaded any issues by designing a series of smaller rectangular blade signs that emerge from the exterior to introduce the brand.
‘We carried over some elements from
the Taipei stores, including beautiful planting in the central seating area,’ explains Wick. ‘We also clad the interior ceiling in cork, which is used abundantly in Taipei, and our design produces a rich, layered effect on the ceiling under the glass of the rolled-up doors.’
‘One of the biggest challenges is that we were working with an existing envelope, and our intent was to successfully adapt that envelope to the client’s brand,’ adds Andrew Lindley, founder and lead designer at Land Design Studio. ‘It was really about the pop of the colour and the conceptual design, and we’re proud of what we accomplished here.’
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