AT PLAY

Even hot night clubs and lounges need tweaking to retain and attract partygoers; in this case, a mix of luxurious and edgy materials, provide the right buzz.

When Three Headed Productions, a partnership that owned several Chicago-area bars and lounges, purchased Le Passage, it faced the challenge of updating the hot night club and discotheque at 937 N. Rush St. to attract new visitors but not lose its existing clientele.

The partners also wanted to transform completely the club's V.I.P. lounge to appeal to a new, slightly different lounge goer-the type who enjoys talking but also likes drinking and eating in a luxurious contemporary setting. And the partners wanted to do so in a fast-paced three months.

"While Le Passage had been a great night club for almost a decade before we took over, that long a period represents an eternity in this industry. We needed to breathe in new life," says Tommy Wang, one of the three Three Headed owners.

With advice from Anna Butler, an independent marketing manager known for her expertise in re-branding and re-imaging, Wang and his partners brought in designer Hughes N'Cho-Allepot as a consultant, who's known, in turn, for fashioning edgy but classy spaces.

The partners asked that the transformation also place more emphasis on good mixes and food. To achieve those goals, they hired star mixologist Charles Joly and hot chef Nick Lacasse, a disciple of Shawn McClain, winner of the 2006 James Beard Best Chef, Midwest, award. The culinary cocktail lounge already has earned a glowing review in Gourmet magazine.

What the designer did in the two areas-both below grade-cleverly reflects enough differentiation to telegraph visually that they may be "sisters but not twins," as N'Cho-Allepot likes to describe how the areas vary yet relate. Each was also given a separate name and entrance.

Because the Le Passage discotheque was in fairly good shape, most of the design budget was spent on the new 2,300-square-foot area, conceived as an intimate, hip drawing room and appropriately named The Drawing Room.

Since the owners gave N'Cho-Allepot minimal direction except for requests for an intimate space in an earth colored palette, he had great leeway to develop his vision. "For this project I developed a concept that I define as M.O.L. or Modern Organic Luxury where every element has a soft but direct relation to each other and where luxury is not only found through the overall design but in the materials used to conceive it. I suggested using exotic woods like zebrawood and rough looking materials to balance the various woods' richness, and wanted to create a style where everyone would want to come and stay," he says.

"What sells a space today is the design," he adds. "You can go out and have a vodka drink anywhere; vodka is vodka. But what makes people come, look and come back is the design and especially something luxurious."

Once N'Cho-Allepot showed his clients his interpretation of a modern drawing room in renderings, which to him meant a combination of a library and cigar room with hints of 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century touches, they were so pleased they hired him to direct and design the entire project.

To begin, N'Cho-Allepot created the new entrance for The Drawing Room since before the V.I.P. space was entered from a back alley. "That was cool for a night club but we needed a more special feeling to attract diners," says Wang.

To make the space within work as a lounge and culinary destination with some minimal separation, N'Cho-Allepot used a large planter filled with a row of snake plants to act as a living, organic divider. "My idea wasn't really to use plants but to bring in some freshness and do so with another dark rich wood-in this case wenge," he says. In another part of the room, which leads to the night club, he repeated the idea of nature by setting out a group of Wisconsin birch trees. "There were supposed to be glass doors there to separate the two areas but we were running short on time, so I convinced my clients to let me use something different," he says.

The zebrawood was used to cover a wall of the dining area in 2' X 2' squares that resemble tiles. For more richness, N'Cho-Allepot applied rough-cut marble in long rectangles on another wall, almost suggesting accordion pleats.

For a soft contrast, he selected rift oak for dining table tops, which he paired with classic looking metal bases. For the big comfortable chairs, used in the former space, he simply reupholstered them in mink colored silk-antique velvet, which helped pare costs, a priority of the clients. "They used to have red velvet, which was very 1980s and over the top, so I had the chairs stripped and refinished" the designer says.

Because N'Cho-Allepot felt the room's large round columns were too prominent and also looked outdated, he squared them off and covered them in the same rough-cut marble used on the wall. Retaining the columns also helped keep the budget on track.

The bar area, which spans the area between Le Passage and The Drawing Room, was made from a combination of red mahogany and rift oak. Here, the same silk-antique velvet of the chairs covers the stools. The piece de resistance is the bar's back wall, redesigned by N'Cho-Allepot to resemble a three-dimensional still life with cubbyholes of different dimensions to house varied sized wine and liquor bottles.

Lighting was critical for mood making, and N'Cho-Allepot used a combination of large dropped crystal chandeliers and little spotlights, all set on dimmers. The existing black floor was sanded and buffed.

In Le Passage, N'Cho-Allepot retained a wall that had been covered in gold leaf so there would be some continuity with the original design. But he toned it down with a sheer curtain to update its '80s over-the-top look.

Round columns with glass tiles were also retained. To add some freshness, seating was upholstered in the same silk-antique velvet used in The Drawing Room, playing up the family resemblance but not so much.

And he was delighted with the final results. "Design is a language that shapes our day-to- day life. The places we live are more than shelters, they have to embody what we are, therefore the public places have to embody our dreams and aspirations." And he graciously adds, "There is no great design without a great builder," complimenting John Warken who served as the contractor. "He worked with me to implement my ideas."i4