The red carpet of St. Gallen is designed by artists Pipilotti Rist and the architect Carlos Martinez jointly. They designed the City Lounge as a public "living room" dipped in red, which lays like a carpet across the entire area.

The flooring, made of red by dyed plastic granules, envelops the floor area and the public furnishings such as seating, sculptures and a fountain. The lounge, with an area of approx. 4600 m2, combines all places and remaining spaces of the area into a visually uniform whole.

The city Lounge is seen as an artistic confrontation between public space and the specific characteristics of the place.

Similar to a lounge, the area is divided into zones, each of which is dedicated to functions such as reception, cloakroom, foyer, café etc. The individual areas are fluently flowing into each other.

The lighting is done by so-called «Bubbles», cloud-like light bodies, which are constructed in such a way that these seem to be floating.