Gaucho O2 Arena

Everyone one in London knows the iconic black and white ‘pony skin’ décor which has graced this leisure landmark for nearly 30 years, but even Icons need to keep up with the times.  In recent years, through the ever changing fortunes and dips in the economy, even the stalwarts were affected and Gauchos was no exception, but waiting in the wings to save it, was one of London’s most famous restaurateurs, Martin Williams.   Mr. Williams, also the CEO of M Restaurants, had a personal interest in reviving Gaucho’s fortunes, having previoulsy headed up the chain for many years and it was through our long standing relationship with him, that top London interior design studio, René Dekker Design was invited to be part of a small team of design companies, involved in bringing this landmark restaurant chain into the 21st century.

The brief for the interior design was to modernise the interiors and freshen up the palette, without changing it so much it might lose the core clientele who had grown very fond of the familiar black and white décor.  RDD had design sessions with both the client as well as the other studios, to agree the details that would make-up this modernisation.  The rich hues of the Pampas were a significant influence in colour choices as was the use of dark timbers and terracotta tiles, ubiquitous on the Estancias of Argentina.  Further, the use of leather and distressed brass, emulated the accessories of the South American cowboy.  Once all details had been agreed, they formed the basis of the design ‘DNA’ that would be issued to a designer working on any of the restaurants.  This would mean that all the restaurants would have an underlying and recognisable brand identity, but also an injection of original ideas based on location and interior designer.

We were given the flagship, 3 storey O2 Arena restaurant, which would be revitalised in three stages, to avoid complete disruption.  The first order of the day was to turn the ground floor bar/restaurant into an action bar, able to host not only a large number of patrons on their way to see a show at the Arena, but also private parties as well as eager foodies waiting for their table upstairs.  Whilst it was a large premises, it was nevertheless tricky to work on as it was also the entrance to the first floor restaurant, so plans were conceived to create a new entrance via the emergency stairs.  Gaucho was also historically known for blacking out the windows, giving the restaurant interior a ‘night club’ feel, but this was scrapped in favour of opening up the windows of the entire floor and ‘letting in the light’