You wouldn’t expect to find the glamour of Madonna, Mick Jagger and Harry Styles on a dingy side street near London’s St Pancras station.

But tucked away behind an off-licence is the place where the world’s most famous rock stars and performers go to have their theatrical dreams made into reality.

It is Stufish, the leading designer of the world’s biggest rock concert sets, live events and shows.

Unless you’re in showbiz, you probably won’t have heard of it, but name any live event where you’ve been transported to a higher plane by magical sets, props and lights, and the chances are Stufish was in the background.

U2, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, the London and Beijing Olympics, Pink Floyd, Cirque du Soleil – all their jawdropping extravaganzas have emerged from the small but skilled team at the Studio Fisher.

Squeezed between brainstorming about Madonna in Miami, Bear Grylls at Wembley Arena and comedian Catherine Tate’s Live tour across the UK, chief executive Ray Winkler spares me an hour to talk through the business of what he calls “entertainment architecture”.

Small, neat and precise with his words, Winkler is not the mad genius I’d expected him to be.

Could this really be the guy whose team got Bono and the U2 boys to emerge from a 40 foot, motorised lemon on the PopMart tour (occasionally getting stuck, Spinal Tap-style)?

Well, yes he is. Winkler started at Stufish in 1996, and Pop Mart was his first tour, quickly followed by the Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon feast of fireworks, famed for its telescopic cantilever bridge from one stage to another.

In those days, rock tours were there to sell records and CDs. It seemed at times money was no object in the race to promote hugely profitable music sales. But the industry’s struggle to make money in the download era changed the dynamic of big touring. Now, it’s the tours themselves that have to make the money.

The stage is set for U2's 1997 PopMart tour (Reuters)

Stufish’s is a juggling act: creating the most spectacular set a rock star’s ego can imagine, while making it easy and cost effective to pack away and set up in the next city a day later.

Doing that profitably means relentless planning, not just of the up-front cost of designing and building the set, but the logistics of touring it around the world. A show requiring 100 technicians needs to sell a lot more tickets than one needing only 50.

Technology has made a huge difference to the process, Winkler says, ranging from advances in steel engineering to new LED innovations which allow beautiful imagery to be spread on vast screens for big arenas.

Anyone who caught U2’s Innocence + Experience tour at the O2 this year will remember the magical show in which the screens became like an integral fifth member of the band, featuring images and cartoons that reacted to and even played with the musicians.

That kind of lighting would have been too heavy, too expensive and too draining of the National Grid until fairly recently.

But every tour is, of course, totally different. “We don’t have a house style because every client and every problem is unique. Someone like Madonna is a single act but with a large band and even bigger entourage of dancers . She’ll want a very different approach to U2, who are four people: vocal, bass, drums and guitar.”

Stufish – short for Studio Fisher – has always had its basis in rock. Right back to when late, lamented founder Mark Fisher made his name creating the vast, inflatable menagerie accompanying Pink Floyd’s Animals tour in 1977.

But in 2000, Stufish took a new turn when it won the contract for the Millennium Show at the London Dome. Unlike its touring stage sets for the Rolling Stones and the like, this was a highly technical, sit-down affair. And, for all the Press criticism of the Dome itself, the show – with music by Peter Gabriel - was a huge success.

At the same time, in Las Vegas, casino operators such as Steve Winn were changing the city from a largely male, gambling hangout to a more family-focused destination and were looking for crowd-pullers to bring in Mom, Pop and kiddies too.

MGM hit on Cirque de Soleil, which hired the director and playright Robert Lepage to direct. He had a plan to put on one of the largest and most technically complicated sit-down shows ever, and asked his friend Peter Gabriel if he knew anyone. Gabriel recommended Fisher without hesitation.

Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones performs on the Bridges to Babylon tour in Switzerland in 1998 (Reuters)

Thus started a lucrative and jawdropping series of sit-down, semi-permanent stage collaborations with the Cirque team. A new business stream for Stufish was born.

Says Winkler: “It’s a fascinating market, because unlike a Rolling Stones set which you take down after the gig, you’re creating a permanent installation that affects the building interior and structure. As architects, we understood the nature of buildings and the nature of space.”

The next strategic move for Stufish came when it worked on the Beijing Olympics ceremony in 2008. As well as being predictably jawdropping, it won Stufish new contacts in China, where it has since been working with big clients including the property and cinema group Dalian Wanda to do touring shows, sit-down spectaculars and a third new string to the Stufish bow – designing actual theatre buildings.

Stufish has now designed several stunning entertainment complexes in vast new developments springing up for China’s burgeoning middle class. Whether shaped like vast Chinese porcelain cups or clusters of curved beesnests, they’re whacky, futuristic and fun.

“Again, it’s a completely different business model from our origins building rock'n'roll sets, with the huge liabilities, timeframes and responsibilities involved. But we like to think we’re bringing rock'n'roll into architecture, so what we’re doing is sexy and relevant to popular culture,” says Winkler.

The Chinese move has also seen it get into making entire productions, completing the one-stop-shop from architecture and set design to the end-to-end business of putting on a show.

The greatest challenge to Stufish was the sudden and early death of Fisher himself in 2013. Cancer took him so suddenly that there was no succession plan.

As well as chucking a bomb into the company structure, it affected Winkler “massively”.

Fisher had been the then-20-something Winkler’s external examiner when the young protégée was at Bartlett School of Architecture in London. Winkler chuckles that he thought the test went badly, but Fisher hired him straight afterwards. For years, the pair were Stufish’s only two designers. “He was a friend and he was a mentor,” says Winkler. ”Everything I know about the industry I learned from him.”

A large portrait of Fisher looks down benignly on the team of architects sitting at rows of desks in the airy studio today. Stufish survived his passing, and has actually grown since.

Says Winkler: “Stufish exists in spite of his death because he instilled an ethic into our studio’s design mentality that would survive the single point failure of a man passing away prematurely.

“For Mark, it was not just about a design made out of steel and glass and wood, it was ‘why was it there, what purpose does it serve, what is the story it tells?’ It was about the big picture, the cultural significance of what we were doing.”

U2’s long-time manager Paul McGuinness knew Fisher since the pair of them first worked together on the set of Zardoz, a sexy 1973 sci-fi movie with Sean Connery.

He says: “Mark was so clever, a unique guy. But Stufish should have a great future. As a team, they’ve executed some very crazy things over the years. They can take a rock star’s fantasy and turn it into a reality made of steel and fibreglass, then transport it around the world in trunks and trucks. They have an enormous wealth of experience.”

I wonder what are Winkler’s design influences. He answers in a beat: Peter Cook. Professor both to Winkler at the Bartlett and Fisher at the Architectural Association, Cook was one of the most famous avant garde architects of his generation, and a founder of the 1960s pop-meets-architecture movement Archigram. Themes included inflatable houses (remember Fisher’s Pink Floyd pigs?), bold sci-fi structures, and whacky, top heavy shapes, all of which have featured in Stufish’s sets and buildings.

Most of all, Archigram had a sense of anarchic fun, which Stufish aims to deliver in spades. “The idea is ‘anything goes, but you have to be intelligent about it,” says Winkler.

The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Show all 20 1 /20 The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Beyonce The Demands: 1 Large table for catering dressed with white tablecloths. Dressing room should be 78 degrees 4 Brand New White Towels in bathroom (2 face & 2 body) Hot Food: Juicy Baked Chicken: Legs, Wings & Breast only (Please season with fresh garlic, season salt, black pepper, and Cayenne pepper HEAVILY SEASONED!!) Steamed Garlic Broccoli Lightly Seasoned Green Beans Lightly Seasoned Steamed Spinach Beyoncé can only have Pepsi products. 1 Case of Aquafina water (half cold, half room temperature) 1 Hot Tea Set up (Please have NEW Coffee Pot) Sliced Lemons Wedges Rose scented candles Lighter for candles CD player Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Adele The Demands: 12 Small bottles still (non-carbonated) spring water (at room temperature) 1 Electric kettle for BOILING water 6 Large mugs for tea. All mugs should be new, washed and dried. 6 metal teaspoons 2 “Squeezy” bottles clear honey (not organic) 1 Bottle very best quality red wine (Italian, French or Spanish) 1 Assortment of chewing gum 1 Pack Marlboro Light plus 1 disposable cigarette lighter 1 Small selection fresh fruit, to include bananas, apples, grapes, fresh berries NO CITRUS FRUIT! 1 Small plate of assorted freshly made, individually wrapped sandwiches, to include chicken salad. Sandwiches must NOT contain tomatoes, vinegar, chili or citrus fruit PA The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Kanye West The Demands: 1 Tub Plain Yogurt for dipping 4 small Yoplait Yogurt 1 Bowl of assorted nuts 1 Bowl of Sunkist Salted Pistachio Nuts (No Red Coloring) 2 Packs of Extra Chewing Gum 1 Bottle of Hot Sauce (Tabasco, Caribbean Type) 1 Box of Toothpicks 1 750 ml bottle of Hennessey Liquor 1 750 ml bottle of SKY or Absolut Vodka 1 Bottle of Patron Silver Tequila 4 Six Packs of Heineken Beer Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty, David Parsons/iStock The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Rihanna The Demands: 5 AC power outlets Adequate lighting for a “relaxed atmosphere” White drapes to cover lockers and/or brick 1 Humidifier 1 Large throw rug — plush and animal print (Cheetah, Leopard) … must be CLEAN, as she will walk on it barefoot. Pipe and Drape the room in Dark Blue or Black drapes with Icy Blue Chiffon draped nicely on top 6 Candles — Archipelago Black Forest (if you can't get these, please let me know ASAP as we have a 2nd choice of candle for Ri). 4 Small, clear, square vases with White Tulips, no foliage (2nd choice: White Casablanca Lilies no foliage, 3rd choice: White Freesia, no foliage) The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Katy Perry The Demands: Arrangement of pink fresh flowers. White and purple hydrangeas, pink & white roses and peonies. If not available, seasonal white flowers to include white orchids–ABSOLUTELY NO CARNATIONS. A box of Huggies baby nature care wipes 6 Vitamin waters zero, assorted flavors Bowl of whole fresh organic grown fruit (apples, bananas, oranges and grapes) Plate of fresh-cut Crudités (to include cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snap peas, celery) w/ ranch dip Snyder's of Hanover Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Jar of Salsa Baked (blue corn if possible) Tortilla Chips Freeze dried strawberries 2 bottles of Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio Throat coat, Twinnings Chamomile PG tips and Mint medley tea. Fuze slenderize assorted flavors A jar of quality honey Plastic drinking straws AFP/Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Paul McCartney The Demands: All lamps must be halogen floor lamps with dimmer switch. Only animal free materials (cottons, denims, velour, etc.) Do not provide furniture made of any animal skin or print. Do not provide artificial versions of animal skin or print either. No leather seating is allowed in the black stretch limousine either. Arrange for a dry cleaner before arrival. 6 Full and leafy floor plants, but no trees. We want plants that are just as full on the bottom as the top such as palm, bamboo, peace lilies, etc. No tree trunks! $50.00 - One large arrangement of white Casablanca lilies with lots of foliage. $40.00 - One long stemmed arrangement of pale pink and white roses with lots of foliage. $35 One arrangement of freesia. It comes in various colors so please mix them up. Freesia is a favorite. 20 dozen clean towels outside of the production office AP The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Mariah Carey The Demands: Each room must be draped. Black drapes are fine. The entry door should open into the living room space, not the dressing room. Temperature should be about 75 degrees. 1 Three Seat Couch — Plain Color, no busy patterns; black, dark grey, cream, dark pink are fine 12 1 Liters of Fiji Water 3 Bottles Chardonnay — Chilled 12 Coke 12 Diet Coke 12 Vanilla Protein Drinks 6 Sparkling Water (Pellegrino) 12 Melon Flavor Gatorade 6 Red Wine Glasses 6 White Wine Glasses 4 Joe Malone Vanilla Candles 2 Vases White Roses Fried Chicken (warm) 12 Small Bottles water (room temperature) 3 Whole lemons and honey Sugarless gum Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Eminem The Demands: 25 pound dumbbells 24-Diet Coke 16oz plastic bottles 12 Diet Coke 12oz cans 6 Verner ginger ale soda (or Schweppes) 48 Daisani, Poland Spring 12oz bottles “NO Evian” 1 Loaf white bread 1 Loaf wheat bread 6 Lunchables snacks (3 turkeys & 3 ham with cheese) 6 Cans Red Bull 16 Cans Sugar-Free Red Bull Large fresh jumbo shrimps with cocktail sauce and plenty of lemons 1 Jar of banana pepper rings Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Grace Jones​ The Demands: 6 Bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne 3 Bottles of French Vintage red wine (e.g. St Emilion, Medoc, Bordeaux) 3 Bottles of French Vintage white wine (e.g. Sancerre, Pouilly Fuisse) 2 Dozen Findeclare or Colchester Oysters on ice (unopened)—(Grace does her own shucking.) 2 Sashimi and Sushi platters for 8 people 6 Fresh lemons 1 Bottle of Tabasco sauce 1 Fresh fruit platter for 8 people 6 Bottles of Coca Cola 12 Bottles of still and sparkling water 12 Bottles of fresh fruit juices Wine glasses, champagne flutes, tumblers (all glass, no plastic) Cutlery and sharp knife 1 Oyster knife 1 Make up mirror (no neon strip lighting, only opaque white bulbs) Fresh towels, clothes hangers, clothes rail 3-4 Bunches of flowers—prefer lilys and orchids Sofa and arm chairs Andy Sturmey The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Drake The Demands: Four dozen natural-scented incense sticks Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap Pork-free food E-Z Wider rolling papers and a pack of Dutch Master President cigars Pinot Grigio Heineken Bottles of Jack Daniel’s Patron Silver tequila Nivea chapstick A bottle of Hennesey or Courvoisier Grey Goose Andis T-Outliner trimmers Extra sets of speakers champagnepapi/Instagram The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Jack White The Demands: 1 dozen chicken wings (buffalo, teryaki, suprise us) 1 bowl of FRESH HOME-MADE GUACAMOLE 8 champagne flutes (real glass) 8 wine glasses (real glass) 8 highball glasses (real glass) 1 hummus & pita chips iPod player with sufficient volume control NO fluorescent lighting PLEASE NOTE: This is a NO BANANA TOUR. (Seriously) Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Madonna The Demands: 200-person entourage 2o international phone lines Her backstage room must look exactly like her own home (that means she ships around her furniture) Special flower-scented fabric Actual flowers Personal chef who prepares only vegan foods Her own dry-cleaning service AP The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Alicia Keys Alicia Keys performs at the UEFA Champions League Final Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Jay Z The Demands: 7 sets of metal silverware 1 Lighter 3 Glade Candles (French Vanilla, Rain shower, Wild Berry, Tangerine Ginger) 3 Cans of Chunk White Tuna 10 Nutri-Grain Bars (Blueberry, Cherry, Apple, Strawberry) 6 Individual Packets of Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal (Brown Sugar and Apple Cinnamon) 1 Assorted Fruit Platter with strawberries, seedless red grapes, bananas, mango, blueberries, cantaloupe and raspberries 2 Cases of beer (one imported and one domestic; brands preferred: Amstel Light, Corona, Bud, Bud Light or local beer) 3 menus for local seafood and Italian restaurants to order meals for Alicia Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Mary J. Blige​ The Demands: 2 Humidifiers 10 medium prewashed bath sized towels NO DAIRY OR PORK OF ANY KIND!! 10 1.5 liter bottles of FIJI water (absolutely, positively must be FIJI) 6 cans of Diet Dr. Pepper 6 cans of Schweeps Ginger Ale 2 packs of Mentos — cinnamon fresh only 6 cans of Red Bull energy drink 6 bottles of Black Cherry Propells in sports bottle 8 sets of silverware 24 napkins 1 tub of clean ice Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Lady Gaga The Demands: 2 Bottles of white wine with wine opener — Kendall Jackson or Robert Mondavi preferred 1 Pack of Straws 1 Cushioned office style chair TV with cable and a DVD player 1 Rolling clothing rack 4 Unscented candles Cool-mist humidifier 3 fans Tea kettle, organic ginger and lemongrass tea and honey are very important. 1 4 pack of Red Bull Light (on ice) 2 Bottles of Green Tea 1 Container of Guacamole Hot dogs (Yves veggie dogs eaten with toothpicks) A smoothie station (with frozen berries, fuze and whey protein or non-fat Greek yogurt) Blender needed 1 Plate of cheese (non-smelly, non-sweaty on ice) with whole wheat/healthy crackers A mix of assorted fresh fruit (cut and must have edible skin OR edible seeds OR citrus) Getty The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Cher The Demands: 1 Wig Room 1 Room for Dr. Stacey 1 bottle of fine red wine (No Kendall Jackson) 1 bottle of fine white wine (No Kendall Jackson) 4 Cokes 4 Diet Cokes 1 coffee table 1 end table for the phone to be placed on TV with VCR with a cable Hook up. Please make sure we can get the following channels: Turner Classic Movies or AMC The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Taylor Swift The Demands: If arriving before 11 a.m., the following from Starbucks: 1 Grande ICED Caramel Latte w/ 2 sweet-n-lows 1 Grande ICED Americano w/ 2 sweet-n-lows with soy milk 1 slice pumpkin loaf 1 Stick Butter 3 Boxes Kraft Macaroni/Cheese 2 Four Packs of Red Bull 1 12 Pack Corona Beer 1 12 Pack New Castle Beer 1 Bottle Welch's Grape Juice 1 Avocado 1 Bag of Twizzlers red licorice 1 Case of Smart Water 1 Pint Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream 1 Pint Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Brownie Frozen Yogurt The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Iggy Pop The Demands: A copy of USA Today that's got a story about morbidly obese people in it 6 bottles of Grolsch or decent local beer F——— loads of good red wines 6 large bottles of good quality sparkling water 3 cases x 12 oz bottles of still mineral water 6 bottles of alcohol free beer 1 case of big bottles of good, premium beer A bottle of vodka Cauliflower/broccoli, cut into individual florets and thrown immediately into the garbage. I f——— hate that Getty Images The 20 most ridiculous things superstar musicians have demanded at their concerts Van Halen The Demands: Nuts Pretzels M&MS (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES) 1 large tube of KY jelly 3 packs of Marlboro cigarettes (box) Herring in sour cream 2 gallons non-carbonated, bottled spring water 3 fifths Jack Daniels Black Label bourbon 2 fifths Stolichnaya vodka 1 pint Southern Comfort 2 bottles Blue Nun white wine Getty Images

Ask Winkler his favourite creation so far and he flounders. “Oh my god, that’s like choosing your favourite candy from the box. I love all of them.” He thinks. “I guess there are some highlights – the Millennium show in Giza where we projected a 220m frog onto a pyramid, with the Egyptian army dressed as giant penguins. That was memorable. Or moments like Peter Gabriel and Yussuf Islam playing an ad hoc soundcheck in Cape Town for the Nelson Mandela Foundation. There was nobody in the stadium except a handful of people. That was just wonderful, very beautiful.”

The new gallery at the Science Museum designed by another late student of Peter Cook – Zaha Hadid - is causing a level of excitement that proves futuristic design isn’t going out of style. But what is the future for live entertainment?