FINALLY!  It HAPPENED!  I received a phone call last October from two young promoters/entrepreneurs who were going to revamp a night club that had recently closed it's doors (located on Bank St in Ottawa, Ontario), and were interested in hiring me to help with the design!  I was SO INCREDIBLY  EXCITED because, although I have designed many bars and restaurants, this was my very first nigh club project.  Designing such a space was something I had dreamed about for YEARS, after being deeply immersed in the local underground clubbing and DJ culture.  I have probably put enough mileage on my dancing feet to walk around the world three times -- at LEAST!  So, as you could imagine this project is near and dear to my heart.
  
On top of getting to design my very first night club, my clients were AWESOME to work with!  Even though they came to me at first with an unreasonably low budget, as the project progressed my expectations were blown away by how much they were about doing this RIGHT instead of doing it quick and cheap.  This is a designer's dream: clients who value quality and originality, and are will to invest in it.
I was the sole designer and draftsperson on the project (well, that is not entirely true -- the clients had lots of great ideas to contribute).  I also acted as co-project managers with the clients to facilitate the fit up.  I even got my hands dirty by creating a custom wall finish in the VIP area, along with the face of the DJ booth.

Not only was this the project I'd been waiting for, but after posting photos of the project here on Behance, I was contacted by a publisher from Hong Kong.  He was interested in our project Bijou and asked me if he could include it in a publication he was working on.  In May 2013, we were honoured to have our work appear in the The Charming Night, which is large coffee-table compendium featuring the interior design of fifty-two high-end clubs, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues from around the world!  Our work on the Bijou Lounge was featured in a glossy four-page spread.

So welcome to Bijou!  But don't sit down -- GET ON THE DANCE FLOOR!!!

DEMO PHASE:  The space has had many incarnations over the years, but no one really put enough time and money into the space to make it special.  We changed that!

DEMO PHASE:  Since the columns could not be removed, I decided to work with them and make them a feature instead.  We beefed them up by putting Sona Tubes around them (used to form concrete columns).

DEMO PHASE:  We did a CONSIDERABLE amount of demo work.  The space had mold in the walls due to a leaky roof and some leaky plumbing in the floors above, which no one had taken the time to properly fix in the past.

DEMO PHASE:  There was a problem with pigeons entering via a defunct kitchen hood vent that had been walled in but never properly blocked from above.  We came across SEVERAL birds who had met their death by entering through the roof vent and exploring the inner cavities of the walls, unable to find their way back out again.  No kidding.  No wonder the place smelled so awful before...

CONSTRUCTION PHASE:  After a whole lot of new steel framing and wiring, the drywall went back on.  The carpenter built the die wall for the bar, but we ended up tearing it up and having the entire bar built off-site by the cabinetmaker.  

CONSTRUCTION PHASE:  At this point the new flooring had been installed and much of the drywall and painting completed.  You can see the concrete forming tubes being installed around the columns here and the new stage/VIP area in the background adjacent to the lovely stone foundation wall, which we wanted to keep exposed as much as possible.

CONSTRUCTION PHASE:  Here is the custom foil wall finish being applied to one of the VIP areas.  

CONSTRUCTION PHASE:  Here I am in the cabinetmaker's shop creating the face of the DJ booth.  There are just some things that I am better off actually making myself, instead of trying to explain to someone else how to do it.  Besides, I like power tools!  (I actually own many, along with my own toolbox.)

FINAL PRODUCT:  We used OODLES of LED lighting to the space -- here you can see it on the fuchsia setting in the the front bar & back bar bottle niche.   The owners had the idea of using the animal prints on some of the stools, which I really love!   It's true that there are a number of wild and crazy patterns & textures going on in this shot, but it really suits the vibe of the club.

FINAL PRODUCT:  I tend to be a pretty practical designer who takes other people's ideas and knowledge into consideration.  But there are definitely times when I have to pull out the Alpha Designer card in order to get my way when I know that it is necessary for the overall composition to come out balanced and harmonious.  In this case the back bar wallpaper was one of the choices I had to wrestle for, along with the final thickness of the Plexiglas framing on the bar niche.  The owner's wanted it to be thinner so that more of the wallpaper could be seen, but I knew it had to be at least 5" wide, or it would have ended up looking out of proportion.  Here you can see a different color program in the LED lighting.  It's wild!  

FINAL PRODUCT:  The front of the DJ booth after completion.  Getting the DJ booth just right was really important for me because I knew that many of my friends would end up playing on it, and if it wasn't well designed I was going to hear about it!!  It was originally on casters, but they had to be replaced with legs because they were making the very heavy booth tipsy.  Luckily it slides pretty easily and is pulled to the front of the stage for big shows.

FINAL PRODUCT:  The column cladding the lighting interacting and to create all sorts of neat visual effects on the floor and columns.

FINAL PRODUCT:  View from the DJ booth overlooking one of the VIP areas.  I love how the black glossy table reflects the light and surrounding textures (below).  

FINAL PRODUCT:  New bench seating and lighting.  I love when I finally have a project in which to apply some of the fabulous trade-only finishes and fabrics that come across my desk.

FINAL PRODUCT:  The table tops were custom made by sandwiching a layer of colored vinyl between two pieces of Plexiglas.  We had to do this because we could not find glossy purple table tops anywhere on the market.  Imagine that!?

FINAL PRODUCT:  The light fixtures I had originally selected for this location turned out to be too large/long so they had to be returned and replaced with these ones, with which I am quite happy.

 

We cleaned a couple of hardware stores out of the chain stock.  I spent a considerable amount of time cutting and hanging these on eye hooks, which I also installed.

FINAL PRODUCT:  PURPLE!

FINAL PRODUCT:  This is a custom finish on the walls in the second VIP area, which I installed.  This foiling technique can be done in a multitude of colors and some even have iridescent effects.  This was gold on a purple background.

FINAL PRODUCT:  I can't take credit for these clever washroom signs, but I sure do like them!

FINAL PRODUCT:  Inside the men's washroom.

FINAL PRODUCT:  Ladies' bathroom.  The square mirrors were supposed to be used in both washrooms, but the location of the light fixtures in the ladies' washroom had to deviate from the plans to accommodate some some plumbing in the wall behind, so we ended up having to use these oval ones instead.

The front aprons of the counters were cut on a CNC machine and also didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but sometimes that happens.  Maybe someday I will have my own CNC machine to play with, so I can tweak the designs to my satisfaction...

And now...  IT'S PARTY TIME!!!!

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