When Treehouse Hospitality Group charged Gensler’s San Diego office with a $1 million upgrade of a former jazz club in the city, it was looking to create a performance space that was alive, unique, and could define them. Gensler associate Marin Gertler, who led the design team, was impressed by the lofty space on the street level of a downtown highrise. “It had good bones and we kept a lot of what we found, while upgrading everything and doubling the capacity,” he explains.

For instance, he retained two levels of galleries linked by a poured-concrete stair, but the sunken supper club and a horseshoe bar that blocked the entry were swept away. Instead, the entire volume is treated as a whole, with a long quartz-topped bar located to one side at the front end. Sliding blackened steel doors can be used to direct the flow of attendees to a headline attraction. The emphasis is on flexibility, so that the main floor can be used for seating or standing, as a dance floor, or for corporate receptions.

Aside from reconfiguring the space, which now accommodates 700-plus patrons, Gertler’s team stripped away the existing finishes and gave each area its own personality, including in the VIP lounges and a full range of backstage facilities. “The major driver was the music—that had to come first,” he says. Already good acoustics were further improved by remodeling the angled wood ceiling and creating curved sound-absorbent booths on the first gallery level. These complement a curtained wall backed with mesh and felt.

Stage and mood lighting were enhanced, and for ambient light, an existing chandelier was deconstructed, its blue shades reutilized as suspended fittings. The team also brought in five local artists to add distinctive features. Two muralists worked from Gensler’s concept sketch, interpreting it in their chosen media, while architectural sculptor Chris Puzio created an array of powdercoated aluminum organ pipes behind the bar as an expression of the spirit of music.