The Gold Canary

Building Plan with Hoa Vo & Tran Nguyen Awarded Design Excellence

The project was to create a community collective concept with several different businesses and programs within the iconic MonOrchid building. As a team we were inspired by the building’s significance to the community and its story starting in 1937 during the Phoenix expansion spurred by Teddy Roosevelt in the 30s. Art deco design flourished as seen in Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of the Biltmore Resort, and Hollywood stars made Roosevelt a vacation hot spot, encouraging further development of Phoenix nightlife. We proposed to service the urban community of creative professionals in present-day Roosevelt by providing a space for collaboration and an homage to the area’s history of art deco design and Hollywood cultural influences.

The hidden gem of the building, The Gold Canary speakeasy, an escape into the area’s past world of singing canaries from old Hollywood jazz. You enter by going into the fake music store, where you are instructed to switch the 1930s radio to “The Hot Canary” by Ella Fitzgerald, which then opens up into the bar.

1930s Radio will be built into the door and serve as the hidden entrance.

The concrete bar gives a cinematic impact with a movie palace light fixture. The iconic geometric shapes of art deco inspired the custom bar stools, and mirror panels featured along the back.

The lounge allows for both individual and two-top viewing of the live music. The stage is accented by a metal feather design on the acoustical panels and a birdcage inpired glass door.

hand-painted canary ladies are applied to floor to ceiling wooden panels which add contrast to the moody charcoal.

The layered relationship between the patterned fabrics on the club chairs along the booths, checkered throw pillows in the lounge, and the bar stools work together to create a reinvented design of old Hollywood class.