Ombre-wrapped Pavilion

Wick Architecture & Design and Land Design Studio unveils their 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.

Exterior View
Photo credit: Here and Now Agency

Exterior View
Photo credit: Here and Now Agency

The project revolved around an existing commercial space on Santa Monica’s famed Third 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.

An Infusion of Brand DNA

After winning a bid from the city to lease one of the kiosk pavilions bookending the Promenade, Odd One Out Tea engaged Wick Architecture & Design and Land Design Studio to develop a design plan for the structure that would capture the essence of the business and the brand. They approached the firms with an expedited mandate for submitting a very detailed design set and proof of concept to the City of Santa Monica within a three-month period, including plans, renderings, and material boards.

Interior View
Photo credit: Here and Now Agency

The client’s ultimate goal was to incorporate some of the DNA of its Taipei flagship store, and to transform it in a way that would also respect the culture of Southern California. With a strong orange color scheme at the brand’s core, that element featured prominently in the initial design set, with the design team envisioning the pavilion exterior accentuated in an ombre style.

A Negotiated Design Scheme

For decades, the Third Street Promenade thrived, becoming one of the most popular shopping districts in the Los Angeles area by the 2000s. However, the post-pandemic era has been marked by a shift in consumer habits, and that effect has lingered along the Promenade. That gave the city a vested interest in the success of the Odd One Out Tea project, which aligned with ongoing efforts to secure more food and beverage concepts at the struggling north end of the Promenade. Accordingly, the city has recalibrated its focus to work with progressive young clients to help recharge and recreate the street. That being said, the proposed color scheme for the Odd One Out Tea store required extensive negotiations with the city before finally being approved. That type of negotiation is what made a collaboration between Wick Architecture & Design and LAND Design Studio the perfect choice for the Odd One Out Tea project, with over 100 food and beverage designs completed in their vast portfolio, including many coffee shops.

Interior View
Photo credit: Here and Now Agency

A Colorful Integration

Once approved, the designers focused on a signature move to rebrand the exterior of the structure in a colorful way. Additionally, while maintaining the existing shell of the building, including its rolling garage doors, they focused on a full redesign of its gutted interior. That included opening up the front half of the building for customers to place their orders and sit and enjoy their fare in an open, but sheltered space.

Signage
Photo credit: Here and Now Agency

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 passersby 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.

Designing a Welcoming Buzz

In leveraging their extensive experience and expertise to address the challenges of brand adaptation in a heavily regulated market, the designers have fulfilled the client’s vision with brand penetration that is contributing to a destination that people want to visit once again.

Interior View
Photo credit: Here and Now Agency

Wick Architecture & Design

Founded in 2006 in Los Angeles, California, Wick Architecture & Design is a firm committed to commercial and residential sustainable design and construction. Led by David Wick, Architect, LEED AP, and principal and lead designer, the firm’s goal is to blend nature with the built environment to create buildings which feel as healthy and holistic as being in a ‘natural space’.

LAND Design Studio

After earning a Bachelor’s of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon in 1993, Andrew Lindley worked for several Architecture and Design offices in Los Angeles, including Eric Owen Moss Architects, Hodgetts + Fung, Gensler, and George Yu Architects (GYA). In 2005, Andrew founded LAND Design Studio as a vehicle for pursuing his interests in commercial design and prototyping of retail and restaurant spaces, as well as the brand rollout of those concepts. Since its founding, the firm’s specializations have grown to include retail, restaurant, commercial, and shell & core design.