The ‘Dior Bamboo Pavilion’ opened its doors in Tokyo earlier this year, on 12 February, the very same date that the maison’s founder, Christian Dior, inaugurated his neo-classical boutique at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris in 1947. Tucked away in the quiet residential area in Daikanyama – different from the traditional shopping areas of Omotesando and Ginza – the dramatic new address serves as a stage to celebrate the long-standing relationship between the Parisian house and Japan, which dates back to the first fashion show held in the country in 1953, six years after Dior’s first haute couture show in 1947.

The 2,465 sq m site features a traditional Japanese strolling garden, crafted by Sora Botanical Gardens, helmed by Japanese planter Seijun Nishihata, with pine, cherry and plum trees – each symbolic of Japan – alongside more verdant planting. At the end of a meandering promenade stands the Bamboo Pavilion, which recalls 30 Avenue Montaigne and is clad in a golden bamboo façade made from recycled Japanese aluminium. This 740 sq m pavilion features Dior’s latest collections by Jonathan Anderson, alongside furniture and fittings made in Japan (Monsieur Dior’s own homes were influenced by Japanese interior decoration and art, one which also filtered into his collections).

Passing through the bamboo grove façade, you enter the inner garden, created by floral artist Azuma Makoto, which evokes an orangery where shrub flowers such as lily of the valley, reeves spirea, sweet alyssum and marguerite bloom season by season, paying homage to Monsieur Dior’s love of the botanical world. Inside, the circular central space feels as though one has stepped inside a giant lantern; it is seamlessly covered from floor to ceiling in Awa washi, a handmade paper from Tokushima prefecture, while lighting embedded within the walls softly envelops the space. From this central atrium, six separate rooms can be accessed: the Timeless Room, the Small Leather and Accessory Bar, the Leather Goods Room, the Men’s Collection Room, Café Dior, and the Women’s Collection Room.

In the white-clad ‘Timeless Room’, you are drawn into the world of Dior’s 30 Avenue Montaigne store, with white wall coverings replicating the spiral staircase, neo-classical wall panelling, and French windows of 30 Avenue Montaigne, but here, realised with Echizen Washi paper made by Osada washi. At the far end of the room is a fitting room where the walls are embroidered with another leitmotif of Dior – Toile de Jouy – but realised here through the hands of designer Hana Mitsui in collaboration with a long-established embroidery purveyor Sun Look, in Fukui prefecture.

The menswear room, meanwhile, is adorned with Dior’s signature blue, with fitting rooms where the walls have been replaced with blue tatami mats designed by Hana Mitsui and woven by a tatami manufacturer Ikehiko from Fukuoka Prefecture – a novel concept, it overturns the conventional notion of using tatami mats on the floor to walk upon. But it is not just a new perspective that stands out; the manufacturing process also differs from traditional tatami-making. By exploring new techniques such as weaving Toile de Jouy motifs into the surface of the tatami, the fitting room gives a new look to traditional craft.

Other pieces are more futuristic in their innovations, like a series of stools and tables by the Tokyo-based design duo We+, created by melting down styrofoam boxes used in fish markets and recasting them into new forms. In addition, benches made using algae also feature in the space. This furniture is part of We+’s project exploring new possibilities for sustainable colour coating, whereby a material combining algae powder and naturally derived resin is applied to the pieces’ surfaces.

The space is completed with a new outpost of Café Dior, led by three-Michelin-star French chef Anne-Sophie Pic. The whimsical creations feature interpretations of the house’s quilted cannage motif, as well as those recalling flowers, four-leaved clover and ladybugs, motifs in Anderson’s early collections for the house.

Together, the ‘Dior Bamboo Pavilion’ is a love letter from Paris to Japan – a country which, despite its influence on the couturier, Monsieur Dior was ever able to visit in his lifetime.

Dior Bamboo Pavilion, 8-1 Sarugakucho, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0033, Japan.

dior.com

In the northern Indian city of Sonipat, environmentally conscious design takes on a highly expressive form. Dubbed The Hungry Caterpillar, this stately food stall concept was developed by Mumbai-based architecture firm Lyth Design, which sought to rethink the mobile kitchen typology through character and sustainability credentials.

The Hungry Caterpillar, Sonipat

Within the grounds of Ashoka University, 3D-printed concrete kitchens are enveloped by expansive bamboo gridshells that bend and rise with ambition, providing both shade and structure. ‘One visit to the site and I instantly visualised a cocoon nestled within lush tree canopies, a caterpillar leisurely feeding, feeling safe and at home,’ says Apoorva Shroff, founder and principal of Lyth Design.

However, Shroff did not want to focus solely on aesthetic values. The metaphor of the caterpillar, a creature known to be ‘an eating machine’, therefore suits the project naturally, given the repurposing and recycling processes that underpin its construction. Take, for example, the 3D-printed modules, which, by using a single material and following an automated process, reduce timelines while lowering energy use. Similarly, the weather-resistant outdoor seating was created by Placycle using recycled plastic waste.

Like a leaf twisting towards the sun, the surrounding bamboo shells curve in two directions to form a structure that is both light and strong. ‘The longest gridshell spans 19 metres, using four layers of bamboo, each oriented at 45 degrees, topped with a crushed mat, which makes the complex double curvature possible,’ explains Shroff.

Shroff hopes the otherworldly yet rooted setting will provide a space for curiosity, conversation and reflection. The structural design was led by Atelier One, London, with architectural detailing resolved by Jurian Sustainability, and built by Jans Bamboo, bringing the ‘caterpillar’ to life.

Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Kundli, Sonipat, Haryana, 131029, India

What, at its essence, is a fashion boutique? It’s a space for brands to present their wares, yes – but in today’s luxury landscape, that definition feels insufficient. The most influential brands now prioritise universe-building as much as they do merchandising. Customers aren’t purchasing a garment so much as an aesthetic worldview – and the boutique becomes a tangible expression of that vision.

In 2025, this idea crystallised into a full-scale revival of fashion retail. A series of brands unveiled high-concept stores that treated fashion, art and design as a whole. JW Anderson has restyled its stores as design-driven marketplaces offering not just clothing but ceramics and other crafted objects. Extreme Cashmere introduced a boutique where the clothing nearly disappears into a domestic setting. A series of smaller stores have also emerged: like Jake’s, the Saturday-only store which sees Jake Burt, one half of London-based label Stefan Cooke, sell an ever-changing roster of weekly one-offs designed by him and his friends (pastry chef and model Louis Thompson provides the cakes).

Here, we are focusing on the store design itself: from Stone Island’s experiments with cutting-edge tech to stores-turned-galleries, these were the retail concepts that defined 2025 in fashion.

Acne Studios, Tokyo

Acne Studios’ new three-level Aoyama flagship blends minimalist architecture with playful textures. Designed by co-founder Jonny Johansson and Halleroed, the glass-lined, garage-like space is clad in pink granite and filled with vibrant furnishings by the likes of Max Lamb and Benoit Lalloz. The store remains faithful to Acne Studios’ Scandi roots, but nods to Japan through details like candy-bright ceramics by Takuro Kuwata.

READ: Step inside Acne Studios’ pink-hued Tokyo flagship: ‘fashion is supposed to be fun’

Miu Miu, London 

Miu Miu’s revamped New Bond Street store feels clean and contemporary, defined by an industrial metal grid floor, crisp lighting and bold yellow-green display cases. Upstairs, warmer touches – parquet, plush rugs and a sculptural wooden ceiling – add softness. Crucially, this space is conceived as more than a boutique; it functions as a cultural and social hub.

READ: Inside Miu Miu’s ‘proudly modern and minimal’ new London store

Longchamp, New York

The showstopper at Longchamp’s revamped New York flagship is the vivid green steel-ribbon staircase. Thomas Heatherwick returned to reimagine his 2004 design, shifting focus from theatricality to a warm ‘Parisian apartment’ feel. An opened-up upper floor, green carpeting, vintage furniture and eclectic art create a refined but lived-in atmosphere.

READ: Thomas Heatherwick revamps his New York flagship for Longchamp – 20 years after he first designed it

Extreme Cashmere, Amsterdam

At Extreme Cashmere’s Amsterdam store, opened in April, the display of garments is almost secondary to creating a home-like spirit. Plush carpets, a stainless-steel kitchen block, a ‘cashmere spa’ washing machine and curated objects encourage intimate, relaxed interaction with the brand’s sizeless, genderless pieces, which are displayed market-style.

READ: Extreme Cashmere reimagines retail with its new Amsterdam store: ‘You want to take your shoes off and stay’

Dries Van Noten, London

In March, Dries Van Noten ushered in a new era under creative director Julian Klausner, following the founder’s 2024 departure. A new London store on Hanover Square followed, housed in a former bank. The two-floor space showcases fashion and beauty amid artworks by Hockney, Man Ray and Tracey Emin, plus eclectic furniture, design pieces and a vinyl corner.

READ: Dries Van Noten’s new London store is an eclectic, art-filled haven

JW Anderson, London

Jonathan Anderson is slowly but surely steering JW Anderson towards a lifestyle focus, with stores now mixing in art, ceramics and homewares – from Akiko Hirai pieces to Charles Rennie Mackintosh stools. Gallery-style displays spotlight works by Mary Stephenson, Gwen John, Christina Kimeze, Robert Kulicke and more, underscoring a growing curatorial slant. In December, a Pimlico Road store – designed by Sanchez Benton – continued to hone this vision, seeing fashion, art and interiors converge.

READ: JW Anderson’s new London store is an inviting emporium of fashion, art and homeware

Saint Laurent, Paris

Saint Laurent’s recently opened Avenue Montaigne boutique offers a museum-like experience. Across three levels, muted rooms showcase not just garments, but furniture by Süe & Mare, Paul Poiret, Jean-Michel Frank, Charlotte Perriand and Josef Hoffmann, as well as works from the Pinault Collection, including art by Mark Bradford.

Stone Island, New York

Stone Island boldly stepped into the future with its SoHo flagship, embodying CEO Robert Triefus’ refreshed vision. Designed by AMO, the two-storey space showcases the brand’s ‘lab’ ethos of material innovation, featuring charred cork, stainless steel and immersive digital screens. A subterranean lounge with a DJ booth and bar completes the experience.

READ: With exclusive merch and a secret lounge, Stone Island’s New York flagship is all about discovery

Loewe, Paris

Loewe’s first ‘Casa Loewe’ on Avenue Montaigne evokes an art collector’s home. Colourful ceramic tiles meet marble, brass and concrete, illuminated by abundant natural light. The space is furnished with pieces by Gerrit Rietveld, George Nakashima and Isamu Noguchi, which sit alongside Loewe leatherwork, rugs inspired by John Allen and an eclectic art collection spanning Franz Erhard Walther to Domingos Tótora.

Dior, Shanghai

Christian de Portzamparc’s House of Dior boutique in Beijing is a freestanding, five-storey flagship wrapped in sculptural white resin ‘petals’ and golden glass panels. Not only does this lantern-like behemoth blend couture and architecture, it also incorporates lifestyle – home to a restaurant from Anne-Sophie Pic, OMA-designed displays, VIP salons and art-filled interiors alongside floors of fashion.

READ: Inside Christian de Portzamparc’s showstopping House of Dior Beijing: ‘sculptural, structural, alive’

Mallorca’s Voramar Supermarket is no ordinary grocery store. Situated in the Port of Pollensa, this distinctive destination combines local produce with architectural grit. Designed by Minimal Studio – winner of the Gold award at this year’s Japan International Design Pioneer Awards – the space has been reimagined as a brutalist wonderland.

Tour this brutalist supermarket in Spain

Voramar is a fully functioning supermarket, with an extensive wine cellar, a takeaway section and an array of produce. Yet, Minimal Studio’s project – named Plastic Box – goes beyond conventional retail design, transforming the supermarket into a site of architectural exploration. Let’s step inside.

The supermarket is encased in a monolithic concrete shell, exuding material austerity. Sculptural counters, steel shelving and polished floors all echo brutalist architecture’s language, while overhead, a modular ceiling composed of more than a thousand plastic crates gives an industrial edge, while also filtering light to cast shifting geometric shadows throughout the day. The contrast between the unadorned façade, which is marked by dark portal entrances, and the brightly illuminated interior captures the quintessential sensory experience of entering a supermarket.

Plastic Box is more than an exercise in aesthetics; it serves as a critique of consumer culture, symbolised by the oppressive presence of the stacked crates. The use of brutalist aesthetics – which emerged in the midcentury and reflected the modern construction techniques that enabled mass housing, later resented for its perceived soullessness – also resonates with the commentary.

Brutalism is often criticised for its not-exactly-sustainable properties (due largely to its historic use of concrete, hence the emergence of movements like eco-brutalism). Plastic Box challenges that legacy and embraces a circular approach: the plastic crates are recycled and integrate ventilation and rainwater collection systems, and all elements are repurposed from industrial contexts.

Minimal Studio’s supermarket not only reinvents the urban commercial space – offering a true immersion for brutalism enthusiasts – but also asks us to interrogate it.

‘I never think people die. They just go to department stores,’ Andy Warhol once quipped.

If heaven is a department store, then Printemps' recently opened New York outpost is one whose pearly gates we’d happily crash.

Only this department store’s gates aren’t composed of pearls; instead, visitors to the new Financial District satellite of the storied Parisian retail mecca are greeted from its Wall Street entrance by towering bronze art deco doors which open into the city’s most enchanting new retail space in recent memory.

Barneys 2.0, this is not. Instead, its leadership describes Printemps not as a department store, but as an ever-evolving luxury concept where ‘we seamlessly integrate retail, hospitality, dining, and innovative programming with a curated approach to fashion and lifestyle’, said Jean-Marc Bellaiche, CEO of Printemps Group, in a press release.

‘Our objective is to inspire and bring people together,’ he added, ‘fostering a sense of belonging while enriching the consumer journey, setting a bold new standard for retail in the 21st century.’

To make its mark in a city with no shortage of luxury brick-and-mortar, the store’s creative team tapped French design supernova Laura Gonzalez to work her magic on virtually every inch of its 55,000 sq ft storefront.

‘We were very inspired by the heritage of Printemps [Paris] – the mosaics, the stained glass, the patterns, the original art,’ Gonzalez noted in a statement. ‘But this is in New York. It’s a new story.’

Part of that story was to unify two different segments of One Wall Street – a mixed-use skyscraper developed by Harry Macklowe, made up of a historic, art deco portion and a 1960s-era addition. Gonzalez’s solution was to celebrate what’s there while adding rich layers of colour, atmosphere, and narrative.

The resulting two-storey department store – which opens officially Friday 21 March – feels like a jewellery box, with each of its ten primary areas revealing itself like a secret drawer. Take the ground-floor ‘playroom’, where shoppers can get an espresso beneath a green-striped circus tent at Café Jalu; try on limited-edition Nikes in a grotto-like sneaker nook; or snag a gift for a friend, housed in bookshelf-like displays.

Upstairs, via a set of escalators, the mood is decidedly more sophisticated, with timber displays, plush carpets, and green inlaid marble floors. Lush, hand-painted frescoes that bring to mind the layered jungle scenes of Henri Rousseau trace the ceilings along with millegrain-style mouldings. On this floor, you can discover clothing, housed beneath cloche-like plaster ‘bird cages’ (25 per cent of the store’s labels are available to shop exclusively at Printemps); shop menswear in a pink moiré-swaddled corner; try on clothes in boudoir-like changing rooms; or get a handbag repaired at an in-store leathergoods repair kiosk. You can even buy some of the store’s furniture – upcycled by Gonzalez herself – straight from the showroom floor.

The trick to uniting the historic portion of the building with the new? A sinuous plaster-clad beauty corridor where you can discover cult and storied French beauty brands alike. An adjoining spa offers manicures and Guerlain products alongside a champagne bar and – further beyond – a couture boudoir, which is currently displaying Jean Paul Gaultier confections.

The idea is that a customer, between a couture fitting or a manicure, can freely wander the store’s nooks and crannies, champagne in hand, just as they would in a friend’s apartment. Even the bathrooms – with their lustrous hand-painted tiles, flattering lighting, and vibrant stone floors – feel as considered as the champagne bar. In the coming months, all of these creature comforts will be joined by a Printemps wine store and Maison Passerelle, a new restaurant by Printemps’ culinary director, the James Beard Award-winning chef, Gregory Gourdet.

Printemps' most pulse-quickening moment, by far, is its dazzling Red Room, a tiled, art deco vestibule off the Wall Street entrance that now contains a dream-like shoe salon. The room, designed by pioneering muralist Hildreth Meière in 1931 and clad in more than 13,000 sq ft of intricate red-and-gold tile mosaics, remained inaccessible to the public for years. No more. Gonzalez designed monumental spindly metal flowers that function as display racks and lighting and sprout throughout the space. Amid the glow, the room – which was designated as an interior landmark last summer – sparkles anew like Dorothy’s ruby-red slippers.

New York, says Gonzales, is ‘a city where everything is possible. I don’t think this project could have been designed anywhere else, because New York is very special. Here, there are no boundaries.’

us.printemps.com

A-Cold-Wall*, the British fashion label founded by Samuel Ross, has unveiled a new flagship store in Shanghai, designed by London-based architecture studio Hesselbrand. The practice, whose previous collaborations in the fashion world involve retail design for Alyx, worked with an existing structure, which they stripped back to craft a highly bespoke and intensely ordered environment. The interior was thus transformed into the perfect canvas to display A-Cold-Wall* garments, which are inspired by an interplay of architecture and industrial design.

Inside the new A-Cold-Wall* Shanghai store

The new flagship is located in Zhangyuan, a 141-year-old cultural block in Shanghai. Preserving the building's historical façade, Hesselbrand's founding directors Magnus Casselbrant, Martin Brandsdal, and Jesper Henriksson opted for a unique approach to the industrial ‘look’ the client requested.

An industrial design aesthetic can involve rough-looking, utilitarian spaces, and as a result, it might be perceived as too stark and cold. Drawing on this but balancing it for the project's retail purposes, the practice took a conceptual approach, capturing spatial qualities that tap into a mix of visual references from large galleries, museums and factories. The store now boasts a grand and timeless feel, offering an alternative concept for its genre, while nodding to monumental architecture.

Hesselbrand also stripped back unnecessary decoration and instead focused on the arrangement of stone columns, hidden mirrors and screen walls throughout the interior. These elements are carefully illuminated and act as larger, stand-alone details that allow for an immersive experience that helps define the store's atmosphere.

'We began with inserting precise architectural elements in plan to create clarity and order. Columns give an overarching structure, while illuminated glass screens hint at the internal activity,’ Casselbrant explains. ‘Focused lighting reinforces the architectural rhythm while the more delicate cashier plinth and ottoman seating serve as anchor points for interaction.’

The use of juxtaposing materials of different textural qualities – such as rough, bush-hammered stone, sandblasted glass, brushed aluminium and woven steel mesh – presents a strong visual language that balances the tightrope between natural and industrial. Additionally, the space is easily adaptable to host exhibitions and events for the local community, a flexibility owed to the interior arrangement's precision and its calming rhythm throughout.

Henriksson says: ‘By turning what was an irregular space into a highly ordered environment, we are able to bring the A-Cold Wall* collection to the forefront of the store, allowing their cult following to truly interact with the essence of the brand. The space is open for interpretation and meant to act as a platform for forming meaningful connections within the community.’

a-cold-wall.com
hesselbrand.com

France’s Pritzker laureate Christian de Portzamparc describes the new Dior Geneva flagship store he designed as ‘an emblem that aims to liven up the city'. Wrapped in six dazzling white sculptural shells ‘that soar to the sky’, it integrates into and transforms Geneva’s urban fabric. It also interprets the creative process of Christian Dior (1905-1957), the legendary house of Dior founder whose first collection in 1947, known as the ‘New Look’, revolutionised haute couture with tight waistlines and bountiful skirts emphasising an idealised feminine form. 

Christian de Portzamparc's Geneva façade for Dior

The Dior store occupies a tight corner site of just 14x15m on the rue de Rhône, Geneva’s premier luxury shopping destination. ‘The international style is sometimes a bit sad,’ de Portzamparc says, referring to the street’s post-war modernist buildings. ‘I thought we had to bring new life into the street wall.’ 

This is spectacularly achieved by six curving, moulded resin shells, which rise 23.3m from ground level across the two building’s two exposed sides, overlapping on the corner. The gaps between these serpentine forms reveal a complex façade of curved glazing behind them. ‘I wanted to bring light into the building,’ de Portzamparc explains of the fashion store design, and because the shells are not illuminated at night, the building instead shines like ‘a lantern’, from within.

Externally, the building has similarities to de Portzamparc’s 2015 Dior flagship in Seoul, where he had the idea of the ‘suspended cotton canvases with which Christian Dior shaped, cut, and sculpted his dresses’. 

At the new flagship, the shells also evoke the petals of a lily or daisy. Flowers play a signature role in the brand's designs, rooted in Christian Dior’s childhood love of his family flower garden and often manifested in elaborate appliqué on garments. Subtle lines cut through the shells to give structural protection against any seismic ground movement Geneva may experience. De Portzamparc describes them as ‘caryatids [Greek columns shaped as female forms] supporting an entablature, a flat, square roof that emphasises the intersection of the streets’. 

Above that roof is a top floor, set under photovoltaic panels, and wrapped in an open L-shaped terrace. Visible from the street, just above the roofscape, a white star with a central hole is mounted over the corner. The star has recurred in Dior jewellery designs and packaging ever since Christian Dior found one in a Paris street in 1947 and took it as his lucky charm. 

Inside, the top floor hosts a VIP fitting-room salon, lined by CNC-cut concrete dust-textured wood with an exquisite relief pattern by François Mascarello. The floors below have sales rooms that feel airy with textured walls carrying simpler relief patterns. Natural light falls through angled openings as if curtains had been drawn back. Soft seating creates a homely, comfortable feeling. 

Artworks are placed throughout the building, reminding us that before Christian Dior became a couturier, he ran a Paris art gallery showing works by iconic artists of the time. Today, the brand envisions the building as a ‘cabinet of curiosities’ and perhaps the most striking internal element is a vertical vitrine climbing beside the stairs and lift, in which light shines from torso models through cotton fabric to demonstrate Dior’s mastery of shaping textiles. 

Dior is now part of Bernard Arnault’s LVMH luxury retail empire, which first commissioned de Portzamparc for its LVMH Tower in New York (1999). Unrelated Manhattan buildings by the same architect demonstrate strategies he develops further in Geneva – curved glass in the façades of the 306m-high One57 (2013), and Prism Tower’s dynamic, layered sculptural façades (2016). 

But as de Portzamparc comments, Dior’s new flagship store ‘cannot be a UFO, an incongruous object in the street, as in New York’. Instead, he pays ‘homage to European baroque’ with a new look – something that lifts the street and weaves the legacy of Dior aesthetic into the structure. Not least, the internal spaces are perfect for Dior’s uniquely refreshing and cultured shop-floor ambience. 

christiandeportzamparc.com

Fashion, just like architecture, is about more than what meets the eye. Akris creative director Albert Kriemler knows this well: ‘For me, fashion is not just visual; it is about feeling, it is tactile. In the end, we wear clothes on our skin. This is something you need to feel, not just look at. In interiors, as in fashion, it is always about material and fabrics first.’ It was this intangible quality, this sense of elegance but also comfort and ease that Kriemler wanted to replicate in spatial terms when he embarked on the search for the right partner for a new series of concept stores for the century-old Swiss label. He soon found his perfect match in the studio of David Chipperfield. 

David Chipperfield Architects for Akris

Kriemler and Chipperfield have known each other for more than 20 years, having first met at a party in Zurich through a mutual friend, German architect Christoph Sattler. The British architect’s ‘sensitivity towards context and site specification’, as well as his distinct balance of ‘traditional requirements with a modern, minimalist design approach’, were what attracted the Akris designer to offer him the commission. ‘There is a sense of minimalist beauty and precision, a love of quality and functionalism in this new concept, which I can relate to,’ Kriemler says. ‘He is very experienced in dealing with existing structures, and that is what we need. When we look into new locations for our boutiques, we have to make compromises, because we do not build a house from scratch. David can reconsider old complex situations with the utmost respect – that is what I admire.’

Chipperfield, who famously kick-started his London practice by designing a series of stores for the likes of Issey Miyake, Kenzo and Equipment, is an experienced hand in the fashion world. Now the celebrated architect has additional offices in Berlin, Shanghai, Santiago de Compostela and Milan. The latter is helmed by Giuseppe Zampieri, the practice partner who also heads up the Akris project. ‘We immediately found common ground with Peter [Kriemler, president of Akris] and Albert Kriemler in our discussions about how to best represent Akris values,’ Zampieri says. ‘Materiality and craftsmanship with an international vision are the pillars of this Swiss brand. It was important to translate “Swissness” into something conceptual while avoiding cliché – an expression of heritage, precision and accuracy, celebrating the brand’s roots in Saint Gallen, one of the world’s leading textile centres.’  

The practice is known for its ability to work with a brand and translate it into architectural space in an extremely tailored way. Here, highly refined architecture meets a deep understanding of fashion identities and the ever-changing needs of the particular market, Zampieri explains: ‘Through the years, our approach and language changed according to the evolution of the brands and of the wider industry itself. Our clients are increasingly characterised by a richer research into craftsmanship, as well as a greater attention to the local sourcing of materials. In recent years, fashion houses have come to us to develop an extremely adaptive store concept that can respond to their need for repetition in various locations.’ 

Launched to coincide with the fashion house’s centenary in 2022, a prototype of the new concept debuted in Washington DC in early May 2022, quickly followed by the Tokyo Ginza store the same month. Another, in Chicago, is currently in the works, due to open in the second half of 2023. The design draws on the pillars of the Swiss brand – materiality and craftsmanship. The architects found inspiration in Italian modernist artist Bruno Munari’s tensile structures, using the same technique as a device to craft space. The result is an interior that appears solid, but also delicate, almost floating, with white painted wood panelling serving as a background to a minimalist display system of taut steel cables and shelves. Akris’ signature material, ivory-coloured horsehair fabric, features in the fitting rooms. 

Akris aims for timeless modernity, stresses Kriemler, who also counts Adolf Loos among his sources of architectural inspiration. The Austrian modernist also wrote fashion reviews, and Kriemler recalls how the architect once outlined that ‘a garment was modern when the person who wore it did not stand out’. This corresponds perfectly with Akris’ vision for collections that are selbstverständlich (natural, effortless and self-evident). 

The new concept by David Chipperfield Architects certainly delivers on this approach – these spaces are a representation of the brand’s future. And what would the ideal Akris store say to its visitors? ‘That fashion is about the person first,’ says Kriemler. ‘That is why it is also important to us how women feel in our store. Our mission is to make a woman feel her best self through what she wears – determined and free so she can express her own personality and charisma. Fashion is a language, as we all know. But, first and foremost, it is a conversation between a woman, her body, and her clothes.’   

davidchipperfield.com 

akris.com 

A version of this article appears in the March 2023 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today!

The Rinascente department store stands on the complex, if not confusing, Piazza Fiume, just outside of Rome’s towering, ancient Aurelian Walls. It was designed by architect duo Franco Albini and Franca Helg between 1957-61 and has long been one of the city’s modernist marvels. So the task of updating the building for today’s exacting retail requirements while keeping the main six floors of shop space open was 'fairly complex on a practical level', says Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, likening the works to a leopard’s spots. He is founder of 2050+, the Milan-based interdisciplinary design agency that has overseen the revamp and redesign of Rinascente’s distinctive façades as well as the rooftop level and the new lift to service it. 

Redesigning La Rinascente Piaza Fiume

'It is a restoration project,' explains Pestellini Laparelli, 'but restoration of the modern,' emphasising some of elements that straddle the line between reinstating what was in Albini and Helg’s original design, and going further by interpreting their architectural intent and introducing unashamedly new features. 

Transparency is a key theme in which 2050+ has gone back to the original drawings, says the architect, who previously was a partner at OMA in Rotterdam. Large shop windows on the ground floor recall the original parallelepiped (sometimes called rhomboid) shaped glass, allowing sight lines straight in (and out) as a way to celebrate the frenetic consumerism taking place. Similarly, Albini and Helg’s glass wall façade exposing the criss-crossing escalators within has been brought back. 'It was a moment when modernism celebrated the flows and the fluxes of people and of things,' says Pestellini Laparelli, 'a sort of celebration of the beginning of globalisation.'

But he is emphatic that this is not a nostalgic restoration project. Indeed, there is much more at play here than reviving the transparency that constant adaptation had obscured over the decades. 'Being modern is about embodying and transforming, rather than simulating an attitude,' reads the studio’s communication of the project, explaining an approach that uses ‘targeted interventions’ to strike a balance between restoration and transformation. 

'Modernist maestros such as Albini and Helg had a very dynamic relationship with the past,' continues Pestellini Laparelli, pointing to midcentury contemporaries of the Rinascente designers, studios such as those of Gio Ponti and BBPR. And so 2050+ has installed a new lift to the side of the building that connects the street level directly with a new panoramic top-floor food court and restaurant. The geometry of the shaft structure, says its designer, mimics Albini and Helg’s never-realised car lift to rooftop parking, creating what would have been a building that was ‘a machine for shopping’ (see 1957 model). 

Reyner Banham, in his 1969 book The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, describes the Piazza Fiume building as 'a technological architecture for a historical context'. This quintessentially modern typology lends itself to innovation but the harmonious juxtaposition with the surrounding ancient city does not fail to impress to this day. Indeed, perhaps it is the avant-garde nature of Albini and Helg’s design legacy (a young Renzo Piano was Albini’s intern at the time) that had the biggest impact on the current project.

‘Paradoxically our project is uncomplicated in design,’ concludes Pestellini Laparelli, ‘mainly thanks to the sophistication of the original architecture.' Dynamic and without nostalgia, complex while offering simple flexibility, the 2050+ Rinascente revamp, like Albini and Helg’s original project, feels convincingly contemporary. 

rinascente.it 

2050.plus 

Technology and design giant Apple has just added a new store location to its extensive retail arsenal – welcome to Apple Brompton Road. Designed by Foster + Partners, the studio also behind many a past shop interior for the brand as well as the famous Apple Park in California’s Cupertino, this piece of retail architecture has just arrived in west London's Knightsbridge Estate, opening its doors to its first customers this week. 

The brand new flagship store at 17-27 Brompton Road features sleek interiors that combine concrete, timber and greenery, alongside elegant, minimalist displays of the brand's sophisticated products. The expansive, high-ceilinged interior is set within the estate’s development on Brompton Road (spearheaded by the Olayan Group), featuring overall building design by London architecture studio Fletcher Priest. Apart from the Apple offering, the wider scheme includes a mixed use selection of residential, retail, and hospitality venues (completing later in the year).

Proving great design goes way beyond simply sophisticated aesthetics, the new Apple store will be completely powered by 100% renewable energy – all while sitting elegantly behind a restored 19th century facade. The design coordinates with ongoing plans for the Knightsbridge Estate’s eco-sensitive elements. ‘Heat and power have been combined where possible to generate energy back to the grid, to be extended as renewable energy. Rationalising deliveries to a single point, will significantly reduce local traffic congestion and consequently, carbon emissions in the area,’ says the project’s senior development manager at developers Chelsfield, Jeremy Lacey. 

The official opening of Apple Brompton Road in London will be marked with a four-day celebration between 28–31 July on site.

INFORMATION
fosterandpartners.com
apple.com

Vancouver-based Leckie Studio has created a striking architectural interior for a dermatology clinic – AER Skinlab. The space, conceived to serve as the cosmetic dermatology company’s main base in town, is set within Arthur Erickson’s Waterfall Building, in a modest, cloistered 880 sq ft retail space. Drawing from visuals of quarries, geological formations and the idea of minerals, nature and wellness, Leckie created a clinic interior design that feels ‘excavated from the stillness of rock’.

The internal programme was fairly straightforward – the project consists of three treatment rooms, a consultation space, and a reception area. Taking this brief and elevating it through clever, overall minimalist architecture punctuated by impactful individual design gestures, the team at Leckie Studio employed locally quarried marble from Vancouver Island, finished with a raked striation, and fluted glass to maximum effect. Apart from the considered material choice everywhere, a glowing bespoke ceiling installation out of densely packed Tyvek filaments becomes a real visual draw within the space.

Art played a key role in the architects’ idea development. ‘Leckie Studio was inspired by the Quarries work by [photographer] Edward Burtynsky, as well as [artist and film director] Matthew Barney’s The Order, from his Cremaster Cycle 3,’ the architects explain. The team cite a specific text by Burtynsky, who states: ‘The concept of the landscape as architecture has become, for me, an act of imagination… The surface of the rock face would simultaneously reveal the process of its own creation, as well as display the techniques of the quarrymen. I likened the tenacious trees and pools of water to nature's sentinels awaiting the eventual retreat of man and machine – to begin the slow process of reclamation.'

Leckie Studio was founded in 2015 by architect Michael Leckie, yet already has a few important commissions under its belt, as well as a growing portfolio. Examples include a Vancouver House penthouse, where the practice composed a warm, organic space filled with textured, natural materials inside BIG's Canadian West Coast high-rise. 

INFORMATION

leckiestudio.com

Designed by the locally based architect Arthur Casas and his team, the exquisite +55design store in São Paulo highlights Brazilian modernism, with its clean lines, perforated walls and lush greenery composed of native Brazilian species. Meanwhile, the neutral and minimalist landscape inside the store allows for a flexible layout, able to showcase varied displays of furniture and objects. 

The monochrome materiality in the walls, ceiling and flooring gives the desired ‘blank canvas’ character in this project. The earthy colour palette is complemented by the soft green of the permeable façade. Developed specially for +55design, this creates a dialogue with the landscaping by Leandro Reis from The Lapa Company.

With light as the greatest ally to its architecture, the store becomes a tropical exhibition space. The warm sunshine streams through an amorphous opening between ground floor and mezzanine. The glass roofing also allows for abundant natural lighting, brightening spaces and highlighting the furniture’s textures.

Casas wanted to create a space that let the products be the protagonists. He explains: ‘The project was thought of as searching for solutions to evidence the furniture, not the architecture.’

Inside the building, orthogonal dividers, made of metal and suede, emphasise ‘a surprising experience’, says Casas. The vegetation, featuring native Brazilian species, invades the retail space to create a contemporary, luxurious but sophisticated aesthetic, where nature and architecture meet. A built-in, artificial illumination system to simulate natural light adds to the welcoming ambience. 

Furniture designed by Arthur Casas is available in store, including a line of outdoor pieces, ‘Golf’, made of wood, aluminium and plastic net.

INFORMATION

arthurcasas.com

55-design.com

South London is about to get a brand new shopping and dining district. Meet Borough Yards, the new kid on the retail block and an exciting addition to the bustling London Bridge and Southbank scene, which launches its first phase today. The project, set on a site previously semi-concealed underneath rail arches and composed largely of neglected industrial buildings, is adjacent to the historic Borough Market. Its architects, SPPARC, spearheaded a weaving of old and new, mixing freshly designed buildings and familiar materials, typologies and shapes, to create a complex that they, and the developers behind it, MARK, hope will attract and delight. 

The heritage context and the area’s character played a key role in the design development, explains SPPARC principal Trevor Morriss: ‘From the very beginning, our aim was always to create an authentic place that successfully combines modern architecture within an established heritage setting. We wanted to naturally extend the existing pedestrian experience without the feeling of crossing a threshold into a new development – providing the discovery of something familiar but with a point of difference, using history and heritage to inform the new and modern additions.’

Following that approach, the architecture team drew on the area’s lost medieval street pattern. This helped them create routes through and openings within the industrial fabric that allow for the blending of indoors and outdoors, while offering light, air and vistas that refresh and reinvent the complex. The aim was to create a diverse, 21st century-worthy, but still respectful, scheme that nods to the past while looking towards the future. The design development did not come without its challenges, such as the task of dividing the site in a meaningful way, say the architects, and ‘ensuring that the project integrated into the wider context’. 

Morriss continues: ‘It was apparent from the earliest stages of the design process that connectivity was the key to unlocking the site and integrating Borough Yards into the rich urban fabric of the area. The viaduct provides a conduit from which to thread a new series of routes and connections from the River Thames to Borough Market, restoring an ancient street pattern that has been lost for generations. The design and layout of the plan has naturally evolved throughout the project, but our intuitive principles have always remained.’

Ancient meets modern at Borough Yards

Marcus Meijer, founder and CEO of Mark, supported SPPARC’s approach at Borough Yards throughout – the project's unique identity was one of the key elements that attracted the real estate firm to this unusual plot. ‘The Borough Yards site has always had massive potential, being situated in a series of heritage spaces and arches and located directly between Borough Market and the River Thames, with huge footfall year-round. It also sits in an area that has been historically underserved for retail and has huge potential for a compelling restaurant and bar offer, thanks to the proximity of Borough Market. So at MARK we saw an opportunity to shift the narrative through sympathetic, yet modern design, creating a new district that truly complements its location,’ says Meijer.

'The raw potential of the grand monumental arches, the history that can be felt in the brickwork, the location in the heart of London Bridge – despite it being a complex site, when you have all of these elements, you can’t help but be drawn to the project. Working with SPPARC, we have unlocked the site, in some places restoring ancient streets that had been lost for generations, and in others reimagining and creating new spaces through cutting-edge architecture. We want visitors to feel a sense of discovery, as they move seamlessly between Borough Market and the nearly 50 new shops, cinemas and restaurants that will call Borough Yards home from 2022.’

Borough Yards, which will be revealed in stages between now and spring 2022, opens with the launch of a section that includes a 2,000 sq foot Paul Smith store, on the corner of Stoney Street, which leads to a courtyard and the neighbourhood’s first ever cinema, Everyman Borough Yards. A TOG (The Office Group) outpost as well as several restaurants and bars are set to follow soon. They will be mixed with public art and carefully composed architectural interventions, with the aim of revitalising this corner of London, transforming it into a vibrant shopping and dining destination.

INFORMATION

boroughyards.com

spparcstudio.com

The ground floor space of Celine New Bond Street, which has been designed to reflect French elegance and classical luxury. Nika Neelova’s sculptures, Lemniscate XI and Lemniscate XIV, made from reclaimed bannister handrails, are suspended from the ceiling. Asger Dybvad Larsen’s Untitled is pictured on the right hand wall, and Leilah Babirye’s sculpture Najunga from the Kuchu Ngaali (Crested Crane) Clan can be seen in the background

Approach the Baroque-style façade at Celine New Bond Street, the maison’s new London flagship, and you will be greeted not by handbags, shoes and clothes, but by statement of material integrity and modernist rigour: sitting in a street-facing window is a sculpture by the artist Marie Lund, which positions a copper wing against blocks of clay. Perfectly disarming and seductive, this is a portal into Celine artistic director Hedi Slimane’s arena of exacting opulence.

With its veiny marble floors, folding mirrors and glowing shelves, the store – located at 40 New Bond Street – channels a brutalist neo-classical ambience somewhere between a 15th-century Dutch still life and the luminous hotel suite in 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a sculptural space, flooded with stone, granite, marble, reclaimed oak, concrete, polished stainless steel and brass. A carnival of materials, furniture and artworks that is elemental and awesome. 

Step into Celine New Bond Street, the French maison’s art-filled central London flagship

Slimane’s intention was to interact with the Grade II-listed Edwardian building in two unique ways. The 345 sq m ground floor is devoted to women, formulated around the aura of French elegance and classical luxury. An octagonal room – originally designed in the manner of an Italian grotto with panels of fine shell work – is now dedicated to the Celine Haute Parfumerie collection. Long shelves and racks float in space. Two of the London-based artist Nika Neelova’s wooden handrail sculptures are suspended from the ceiling. ‘This commission was an interesting way of letting go of something and allowing it to acquire its own life and place in the world. One that is outside of institutions and galleries,’ she says. 

Mirrored panels lining the walls fragment all of the works on display into new formations. ‘It almost creates this infinite loop wherever you look, with all of the artists coming together. I'm very interested in this hybrid model where disciplines start to cross over and boundaries become blurred,’ Neelova says. ‘Looking at references from outside the fashion world within the context of a shop is a beautiful way for things to evolve. This feels like the perfect art exhibition.’

The vast floor plan of 466 sq m is punctuated by numerous pieces that form part of the Celine Art Project, which invites contemporary artists to make works specifically for stores around the world. Slink into the basement men’s department and you are greeted by a polished cast bronze bell by the artist Davina Semo – which you are invited to toll – hovering over a nook of eclectic wooden stools, chairs and books on Auguste Rodin, Charlotte Perriand and Otto Dix. Here the walls are finished in smooth white, the floor a fine smog-hued concrete. 

The artworks create a unique tension between what is public and private space, exhibition and exhibitor, material and meaning. This reimagining of form, place and value is what appealed to the New York-based sculptor Leilah Babirye, whose 2.7m wooden totem stands on the ground floor in front of a mirrored concertina. It signals a change in the space from one room to the next. ‘In this context, I feel as if the piece captures a lot of people – it opens a lot of the dialogue that I am trying to discuss in the work itself,’ she says. ‘I've never done anything for a store or public space, so I’m interested to know how people react and relate to it. I didn’t know about Celine before because I'm not a fashion person. I am an artist.’

Through her large-scale ceramic pieces, wooden sculptures, masks, drawings and paintings, Babirye examines clan hierarchy in the kingdom of Buganda, a Bantu enclave within her native Uganda. Her use of found materials is a way of grappling with LGBTQ+ history and ‘the sense of us being called trash’. Titled Najunga from the Kuchu Ngaali (Crested Crane) Clan, the piece is an unflinching tower of dark wood, wax, glue, acrylic, bolts, washers, nails, aluminium, plaited bicycle tyre inner tubes and welded metal. She was commissioned to make the piece in July. ‘That was also very hard for me because I don't work like that – with somebody telling me they want something that looks like another piece I have made,’ Babiyre says. ‘I don’t have sketches. I never know what I'm going to make the next time I am carving or whether I will find the same materials. I just look at the material. The material drives me to do whatever happens.’

This matter of materials is what is most striking in Slimane’s curatorial act. Both Babirye and Neelova’s pieces are embedded with veiled meaning, their material provenance just as important as their conceptual heft. ‘I have a pile of things that I've collected from all over the place, even from scrap yards. It’s surprising to see the difference in what people throw away here in the US,’ Babirye says. ‘Where I am from, it’s hard to find things because people use stuff. So when somebody from home sees my work with spoons, forks, knives, they ask, “Do you buy them?” and I have to explain that I find them on the street.’ 

Neelova’s Lemniscate XI and Lemniscate XIV are made from reclaimed bannister handrails which she reassembles into sweeping orchestral objects. They resonate with Slimane’s preoccupation with presenting us with something we think we have seen before – denim jeans, varsity jackets, tailored skirts – yet under his direction feel curiously new.

‘I think in that sense, there is a contrast to the works on show because my pieces are based on rescued and repurposed architectural fragments, but I've chosen the handrail because it's something that is moulded specifically to fit in the palm of the hand. It is something designed based on human proportion and it choreographs the body through space. I think there is a nice crossover in the sense that fashion is so much built around the human body and human proportions,’ Neelova says. ‘I had read somewhere that over time, wooden banisters collect microscopic bits of skin. And so to me these pieces also carry the memories of all of the people who have interacted with them. They carry the DNA of hundreds and hundreds of people.’ 

Dealing with the human body is fashion’s modus operandi. Positioned in one of the menswear fitting rooms is an oil painting dated 1670 of a young man dressed in steel body armour and white silk sash. Entitled Portrait of Maximilien de Bethune Duc de Sully and of the Flemish school, it curiously aligns with Slimane’s own ongoing photographic ode to youth and beauty. It adds another layer to the shop as a space for mortal contemplation.

INFORMATION

40 New Bond Street, London W1
celine.com

For those who like to seek local colour on their travels, the resort town of Ravello on Italy’s Amalfi Coast offers a welcome shot of pink. Set grandly on a hilltop is the distinctive, dusty peach-toned façade of Palazzo Avino, a luxury hotel that opened in 1997 and is synonymous with sumptuous dining, exquisite Italianate interiors, and Tyrrhenian Sea-induced serenity. It is housed in a former 12th-century private villa and boasts a Michelin-starred restaurant, Rossellini’s, and a la dolce vita-encouraging Lobster & Martini Bar, cocooned by citrus, pomegranate and olive trees.

Palazzo Avino and The Pink Closet: everything’s rosy

Stroll out onto the cobbled streets surrounding Palazzo Avino and guests will also notice a dusty pink portal into finely curated fashion. It's here that The Pink Closet – the luxury boutique opened in 2019 by the hotel's managing director Mariella Avino – entices shoppers with unique and limited-edition pieces, in a space created by interior designer and architect Cristina Celestino. ‘It's inspired by the idea of a dream closet,' Avino says.

Celestino has translated this vision into an intimate interior swathed in sorbet-pink hues, tactile tiled walls accented with aquamarine shades, intricate inlaid marble, and curving golden fixtures. The space not only reflects the signature colour palette of Palazzo Avino – affectionately nicknamed ‘The Pink Palace' – but also Celestino's fondness for sweet shop colours. Her penchant for pink is something we singled out for praise in the 2018 iteration of the Wallpaper* Design Awards, and is also reflected in her collaborations with Fendi and Sergio Rossi. 

Avino has populated the space with one-off or limited-edition pieces from fashion, accessory and shoe brands she has discovered on her travels, including Milan-based The Attico, Blazé Milano, and Sara Battaglia, and silk-scarf specialist Mantero, located in Lake Como. ‘We're focused on niche brands and one-of-a-kind pieces,' Avino explains.

For Palazzo Avino guests or those passing by, The Pink Closet offers exquisite sartorial delights to treasure once they leave Ravello. For those many miles from the Amalfi Coast, the boutique's newly launched e-commerce site allows shoppers to be tickled pink wherever they are.

INFORMATION

palazzoavino.com

thepinkcloset.com

Since department stores were introduced in the 19th century, they have revolutionised the way we shop. In Berlin, Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe), continental Europe’s biggest department store, with a sales area of some 60,000 sq m, has been one of Germany’s foremost retail outlets since it opened its doors in 1907. The store has since witnessed two world wars, emerging in the 1950s as a notable feature of the nation’s post-war redevelopment and subsequent economic success. But after a century of trading, changes in shopping habits – not least those brought about by the internet – called for a major rethink and a complete revamp. Enter, OMA. 

The (mostly) Rotterdam-based architecture practice was asked six years ago to make a master plan for the building to make it more accessible and interesting to a wider demographic. ‘It's basically a question of updating it,’ says OMA partner Ellen van Loon, who led the project with founder Rem Koolhaas and project architect Natalie Konopelski.

‘We are in a period where virtual and physical shopping are required by both the customer and the retailer. In that sense, department stores are going to be a much more connected kind of enterprise. And then the question will be: how do you connect the two worlds? That is now one of the big questions in shopping,’ says van Loon.

KaDeWe reimagined by OMA

To meet this challenge, the architects decided to scale down the vast space, dividing it into navigable sectors. ‘The floor plates are enormous, and with limited vertical circulation and very few orientation spots, visitors can easily feel lost. So we divided the space into four “quadrants”, each with its own architectural expression, and all of them connected by “primary streets”. It is almost like urban planning, as in a city, but translated to the inside of the building,’ she adds. Each quadrant is accessed from a different street entrance and is organised around a central atrium.

Earlier in October, the vertical circulation in the first quadrant was finished and opened to the public. It features timber-clad escalators in its heart that are a bold presence yet also a warm backdrop for all the shops.

KaDeWe, together with other landmark stores such as London’s Selfridges and Galeries Lafayette in Paris, helped define department store traditions. ‘What is interesting about these buildings is that during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, most department stores chose to seal up all their windows with a plasterboard wall. We decided to open them all up again and that is probably the most important thing we did in getting back the historical value of the building,’ says van Loon.

‘That brings two big benefits: firstly, it gets daylight into the space; secondly, the building also has an enormous amount of balconies all around, and they will be put in use again on the upper food and beverage levels,' she continues. The daylight extends further, as the original vaulted rooftop has been transformed into a glass volume emerging from the structure. Visitors can now view the sky from the ground floor upwards and, by taking a final flight of escalators to the roof, can enjoy grand views of the sprawling city below.

OMA is also creating the first installations for the ten display windows at the front façade of KaDeWe on the corner of Tauentzienstrasse and Passauer Strasse. ‘The shopping window does not necessarily need to show products, but can act as a portal to the city. It could be a teaser – our theme is currently to play with the senses because the senses are a substantial part of shopping,’ says van Loon.

Ownership of such historic buildings implies a certain degree of social obligation. ‘The retailers operating these spaces must also give something back to the city. If an institution like KaDeWe could do that on a cultural level, it would be beneficial for everybody; and the interest it creates would also allow the department store to connect to people from all walks of life and of ages,' the architect adds. ‘Andy Warhol once predicted, “Some day, all department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department stores.” It took a very long time, but it feels that we are now finally at this point.’ 

INFORMATION

oma.com

Tucked away on the café-lined streets of north-east Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood is kaleidoscopic Wunderkammer of beauty goods. MDC Next Door is a new concept store that is, as its name suggests, next door to its sister store, MDC Cosmetic. 

The original, MDC Cosmetic store opened in 2012 as a space that showcased cosmetics, fragrances, and beauty tools, primarily from under-the-radar independent brands or forgotten historic labels. 

Over time, the store has cemented its role as an incubator of new talent and a bastion of the best that beauty has to offer. It stocks the entire range of Frédéric Malle fragrances, Buly 1803, and Susanne Kaufmann skincare, alongside hair tonics from the historic Bavarian apothecary Apomanum, and the strange but beguiling soaps and creams by German designer Frank Leder (fragrances include ‘jam preserves’ and ‘porcini mushroom’). 

MDC is also responsible for opening luxury apothecary Santa Maria Novella’s first German outpost, and is one of the few places that offers spa treatments – from a further Berlin space, MDC Cure – in accordance with Santa Maria Novella’s historic medicinal traditions.

Skincare fanatics will be happy to know that MDC Cure also offers Biologique Recherche treatments that adhere to the French brand’s ‘Skin Instant’ philosophy – the belief that every skincare regime should specifically address the environmental and physical stresses of the moment.  

The new MDC Next Door is a continuation of it forebear’s philosophy, but in more bombastic surroundings. The interiors of both locations were designed by Gonzalez Haase AAS, a Berlin-based studio established in 1999 that works in architecture, scenography and lighting, but Next Door is distinctly more vibrant and playful. 

Gonzalez Haase AAS drew its inspiration for the new MDC project from Gordon Matta-Clark’s ‘building cuts’, for which the New York artist carved giant holes into downtown warehouses and sliced residential homes in half. Matta-Clark’s influence is clear from the black cut-out register and the round, overlapping mirrors in shades of yellow and pink that are dotted about the store. 

Speaking about their work for MDC over the years, the architects say that, ‘each project teaches us things that we use in the next project or the one after that. You take something from the past and create something new for the future. The new is created by putting certain elements together in a different way.’ 

It’s true that MDC has created something new by putting together different beauty elements in unexpected ways. Products and treatments from big-name brands, little known innovators, and historic labels combine for a unique take on beauty retail.

INFORMATION

mdc-cosmetic.de

Apple has raised the curtain on its new Los Angeles flagship, Apple Tower Theater. Open from Thursday (24 June 2021), the historic art deco theatre has been painstakingly renovated into a creative hub for the 21st century, that echoes Apple's global commitment to historical renovation.

A short history of Tower Theater

Opened in 1927, beloved local landmark Tower Theater has quite a history. Designed by renowned theatre architect S. Charles Lee, in what was his very first project of its kind, the first film showed was comedy The Gingham Girl. After entertaining LA for over half a century, Tower Theater finally closed its doors in 1988, becoming a protected piece of architecture the following year.

In its glorious heyday, the historic Broadway theatre district in downtown LA would have been ‘the place to go; full of life', says Stefan Behling, senior executive partner at Foster + Partners, longtime Apple design collaborator. He continues, ‘The area has since retained its edge, and relation to the arts.'

Apple: The Sequel

Working with a team of preservationists, the Apple design team, alongside a taskforce of local artisans and craftspeople, used innovative techniques like 3D laser scans and forensic paint studies to understand and replicate the original colours and textures found in the old theatre. More traditional techniques were used too, including ‘tipping', a stippling method used to prevent brush marks. ‘This project has been a true labour of love,' says Doo Ho Lee, director of retail design at Apple.

‘Everything was covered in this delicious brown,' says Behling, of the long-shuttered space, pre-renovation. Though the nicotine sheen gave a certain charm to the art deco crystal chandelier, it certainly dazzles now, since being lovingly cleaned in a process that took months of work and dedication. ‘You have to approach the restoration as you would approach the restoration of an old master painting, carefully peeling back the brine'.

Detailed bronze elements were discovered throughout, nowhere more impressively than the lobby staircase, the glamorous bronze handrail of which steals focus. Glance up, and a once cherub-filled ceiling mural has been toned down with a more minimalist blue-sky-and-cloud painting, created to mirror the California sky beyond. Elsewhere, plush leather seating is similar to that of the theatre in Apple Park, while also nodding to the cinema-style seating that archival photographs reveal once occupied the space.

Design collaboration

Despite designing during a pandemic, which forced many of the conversations online, the 12-year-long creative relationship between Foster + Partners and Apple continues to showcase results. ‘Apple will go all the way with the design details of a space; they treat their store design with the same love and care as they do a product,' says Behling.

As well as a collaboration between Apple and Fosters + Partners, there's a sense that this is also a form of partnership with original architect S. Charles Lee, whom Behling refers to as ‘my esteemed colleague'. ‘We always ask, "What would the original architect think?"' As with all contemporary Apple retail architecture which is housed in historic buildings (see Washington DC, Rome, and Paris examples) preserving the charm of the original space is of great importance.

Introducing Today at Apple Creative Studios LA

Using the new downtown Los Angeles flagship as its first base (before rolling out in Apple stores in locations globally), a new community-centric initiative developed by the Today at Apple programme is also launching. The project will provide hands-on experience and mentorship to young creatives.

In collaboration with the nonprofit Music Forward Foundation, as well as Inner-City Arts and the Social Justice Learning Institute, Creative Studios LA will provide access to technology, creative resources, and hands-on experience, along with a platform to elevate and amplify up-and-coming talents’ stories over nine weeks of free programming. Noah Humes and his mentor, Maurice Harris – two artists who worked on a mural that spans one exterior wall of Tower Theater – will teach a virtual session.

INFORMATION
apple.com

fosterandpartners.com

When iconic Paris department store La Samaritaine closed in 2005 for safety reasons, it had clearly seen better days. It was once the place you went to buy a new broom, or to take visitors for a spectacular view of the Seine, but its art nouveau interior had aged into a state of permanent melancholy.

The store had always been what the French call populaire. In 1870, a salesman named Ernest Cognacq, with his wife Marie-Louise, opened a store on this spot. As it grew, the architect Frantz Jourdain convinced them to erect a new building that would bring ‘art into the street’. They inaugurated his light-filled, iron-framed art nouveau building in 1910, followed by Henri Sauvage’s art deco extension in 1928. But by the 1970s, La Samaritaine’s sales were in decline and, in 2001, the luxury goods group LVMH acquired the store’s four timeworn buildings (along with an adjoining apartment block, which it agreed to renovate and sell back to the city as social housing). 

After 16 years of legal wrangling and construction, LVMH has finally unveiled the new, and very swanky, La Samaritaine, run by the group’s travel retailer DFS. The site will also include offices, a daycare nursery, and a Cheval Blanc hotel. LVMH hired four separate firms to redesign the different parts of the store, while specialist contractors were brought in to painstakingly renovate historical features, such as the magnificent glass roof, the monumental staircase, peacock frescoes on the top floor, and enamelled lava panels on the façade.

Japanese architecture studio SANAA was given the task of unifying the store. It added two glass-roofed courtyards and replaced a nondescript 19th-century building on Rue de Rivoli with a new structure fronted by rippling glass. Though detractors compare this façade to a shower curtain, it provides a strong, minimalist contrast to the ornate art nouveau façade, and its transparent curves reflect the buildings around it. SANAA also created a glass mosaic floor for the top level of the art nouveau building, referencing the glass floors that covered the entire store in Jourdain’s original design. 

Each level of La Samaritaine is now devoted to a carefully curated shopping category, with islands of discovery here and there (art from gallery Perrotin, customised bottles of Ruinart, ‘street caviar’ sandwiches… ) There are 12 unique food vendors scattered throughout, and the top floor is completely devoted to food, with a lounge, bar and formal restaurant.   

The Toronto/New York firm Yabu Pushelberg redesigned the art nouveau interior, now known as the ‘Pont Neuf’ side. As the designers recall, the original brief was aimed at foreign tourists, but they were determined that the store maintain a Parisian flavour. ‘La Samaritaine had been a big, giant, glorious general store for the people of Paris,’ says George Yabu. ‘So we thought, why don’t we make it resonate with the locals as well?’

The firm set out to find a balance between history and modernity. The ornamental art nouveau context was a challenge, and at times they disagreed with historical choices, such as an original egg yolk yellow. (‘Maybe the architect had a bad day,’ says Yabu.) They managed to soften the shade, and the store’s colours are now an eye-pleasing mix of golden tones, such as bronze metals and blond woods, and the ironwork’s original grey-blue.

The floors – 6,000 sq m of terrazzo handlaid with marble insets – are the work of the New York-based Karen Pearse. The designers had to argue for them, since terrazzo is not French. But they make a nod to the city’s cobblestones, and terrazzo’s fluidity works well with art nouveau. Says Glenn Pushelberg, ‘It’s important that you have this quiet personality that is respectful and responsive to the old building. The pattern gives another layer of character to the whole thing, a romantic meaning that’s appropriate for Paris.’

Inspired by The Flâneur, Edmund White’s book on Paris, they wanted La Samaritaine to be a place for strolling, and the building’s bones lent themselves to this. ‘The floor plates are shallow,’ says Pushelberg. ‘You understand what’s around you, and it seduces you in a serene and intrinsically beautiful way without trapping you or tricking you like an old-school department store.’ Windows offer close-up views of a neighbouring Gothic church.

Rather than interior walls, the designers divided the space with custom-made rugs and furniture in simple shapes and classic materials. DFS wanted to put merchandise in the ground floor atrium, so they used the original floor pattern to create a graceful metal-and-glass pavilion. Lit on top, it adds to the building’s intricate layers of perspective, pattern and light. 

The basement level is now home to the biggest beauty department in Europe, covering the entire 3,400 sq m footprint of the store. This section was designed by French designer Hubert de Malherbe, who also imbued it with a sense of place. ‘The legacy of La Samaritaine is so strong,’ he says. ‘We had to make people know they were in the historic heart of Paris.’

When de Malherbe won the commission, the first thing he did was go to the top of the building and look down at the view. The islands in the Seine and the medieval streets of the Marais inspired him to create a meandering promenade through the beauty stands. Point de Hongrie parquet serves as alleys, while patterned mosaic tiles delineate different spaces – flowers for fragrances, houndstooth for make-up, geometric tiles for skincare. The ceiling is broken up with delicate curving structures of gilded metal tubing. Some resemble café awnings, others the feminine crinolines of Second Empire dresses.

De Malherbe brought elegance to the Eiffel-era columns by adding decorative corbels to the tops and pedestals to the bases. He explains, ‘These add a certain sophistication, so people think “this can’t be a basement”.’ Though the ceiling is not high, the space never feels underground, thanks to a combination of artificial light and daylight from above.

As you reach the north end of the beauty department, the wood floors turn to concrete, and the decorated white ceilings to industrial metal. This is the Rue de Rivoli side, where the vibe is more street than rue. Paris studio Ciguë designed its three levels – young beauty brands underground and two floors of edgier fashion above. SANAA’s transparent wall creates visual continuity between the street and the interior, and Ciguë’s design brings the city into the cylindrical space.

To ensure that visitors entering from the street do not automatically take the lift down to the beauty section and swan off into the historic part of the store, the architects use circular floor inserts and overhead lighting to coax them to either side.

Ciguë’s Alphonse Sarthout says that his firm’s approach to the building was to express Paris, but in a different way: ‘what French style could be without the classic codes’. Drawing a link between the city’s heritage and SANAA’s contemporary design, the team came up with a ‘collage’ of brute materials and historical fragments. Sawn-off pieces of Haussmannian architecture serve as dressing rooms. Classical statues, Morris columns and blocky stools (like road barriers, perfect for checking your phone) punctuate the space. Everything can be moved around, like a construction set, as more experimental brands come or go. ‘The interior is supple and chaotic, in a positive way,’ says Sarthout. ‘It’s alive, fluid, and in perpetual evolution.’

Flexibility will be key to any modern store’s survival in an era where nobody has to leave home to shop anymore. Department stores used to be cathedrals of consumption, but now they must offer unique and ever-changing experiences. With its exclusive brands, tapas-and-cocktails and 21st-century Parisian vibe, the new Samaritaine aims to do just that.

INFORMATION

sanaa.co.jp

yabupushelberg.com

malherbe.paris

cigue.net

The Turner Contemporary in Margate is one of the country's leading cultural destinations outside London, and now there's one more reason to visit the David Chipperfield Architects-designed, world-renowned centre for art – the launch of a brand-new minimalist shop interior, courtesy of London-based studio Daytrip. The retail architecture project marks ten years after the Margate seafront art hub's grand opening.

Invited by cultural consultancy The Seeking State, the design studio devised careful plans to refresh the Turner Contemporary's shop area, which sits right by the main entrance and next to the gallery spaces. Daytrip drew inspiration from Chipperfield's majestic, pared-down architectural approach, as well as the wider context. 

‘It was felt that the new renovation should not only relate to the architecture but should reflect JW Turner’s admiration for Margate, and the surrounding landscape and light qualities, as well as speak to the community and enhance a local narrative that is rich with creativity,' say Daytrip founders Iwan Halstead and Emily Potter.

The building's poetic minimalism is reflected in the shop's interior concept. A neutral colour palette and sleek, unfussy materials make up the internal envelope, while the large openings, with long views of the sea, remain a key protagonist in the space. The existing poured screed flooring, linear glazing and prominent ribbed concrete ceiling were taken as cues for the interior's new composition, internal arrangement and overall rhythm. 

A series of bespoke display tables, shelving and plinths are moveable around the space to provide flexibility. The uncluttered look feels calm and even ethereal, using soft, dappled grey veneer panels, metal frameworks in brushed stainless steel and rippled textured glass. A specially designed workbench that nods to a maker's workshop sits at the space’s heart – though everything can be rearranged as needs dictate. 

More humble materials in muted tones, including matt, white oiled oak (‘chosen for its sandy tonality and honest craftsmanship', explain the designers), grey Valchromat, and a lacquered wood fibre board set the mood that was conceived to celebrate Turner Contemporary's architecture and the seaside setting's colour and tones.

INFORMATION

daytrip.studio

The street view of Honke Owariya, widely regarded as Kyoto’s oldest soba confectioners and restaurant, reflects a peaceful collision of past and present. On the left, a split noren curtain leads into a 19th century wooden machiya townhouse with sliding paper screens and tatami floors, where soba noodles are served. On the right, a wall of glass captures a painting-like view of a minimalist interior, the contemporary lines of a concrete block counter softened by plaster walls and an artfully-lit flower arrangement in the rear corner.

The modern space, created by Osaka-based designer Teruhiro Yanagihara, is a new dedicated sweets shop within Honke Owariya, a historic Kyoto establishment whose 15th-century roots are closely entwined with the city’s Zen temples. Honke Owariya is today run by 16th generation owner Ariko Inaoka, who asked Yanagihara to transform an empty bicycle parking space next to the soba restaurant. ‘From the beginning, I was very excited to see how his modern and minimal aesthetics connect to the 130-year-old machiya,’ says Inaoka, who is also an acclaimed photographer. 

For Yanagihara, creative director of ceramics brand 1616/Arita Japan, the restaurant’s long history is a thread that runs through the design. ‘I thought about how to create a modern space, using traditional materials and construction methods.’ Swathes of sakan plaster walls are a subtle nod to such heritage: a specialist craftsman mixed buckwheat husks (left over from making soba noodles) into the earthenware plasterwork, adding a warm organic texture to the clean-lined space.

The plasterwork connects restaurant and sweet shop structurally as well as symbolically: it smoothly flows from an exterior wall outside the restaurant into the entire framework of the sweet shop’s open box-like container, where a glass façade, set back slightly, leads into the space. Inside, a solid concrete counter sits centre stage, its smooth top surface polished to expose a tactile composition of river gravel, contrasting with the sides which retain a raw industrial edge. Here, beneath an old shop sign on the wall, wooden boxes display the crafted confectionery for which Honke Owariya is famed – from soba rice cakes to melt-in-the-mouth soba warabi-mochi. The space is further punctuated by minimal strokes of black walnut door frames sharply lined with copper – materials rarely seen in traditional Japanese architecture – alongside discreetly atmospheric lighting by New Light Pottery (see W*236).

‘Details are important because the space is small,’ explains Yanagihara, who has also recently opened a studio in Arles, France. ‘I always think about how to fuse the organic softness and hard sharpness of each material’s characteristics.’ Another highlight is a glass door on the side – as cleanly-cut as a picture frame – which slides open onto a walled garden of stone and moss that flows towards the machiya entrance, again connecting shop to restaurant. The nuanced layers of Kyoto’s rich culture are discernible in the side door, which is notably low in height – a modern riff on the small, humbling nijiriguchi door found at the entrance of traditional tea ceremony rooms.

Meanwhile, old roof tiles, inflected with graphic motifs – a happy discovery, found buried in the garden during renovations – are laid on the floor at the side threshold. ‘I was careful to smoothly connect the main historical building and the new design space by the garden and walls,’ explains Yanagihara. ‘I wanted to transform it into a space with a sense of tradition and innovation, integrating old and new.’ Adds Inaoka: ‘It’s created a very special beauty that I have never seen before in Kyoto.’

INFORMATION

honke-owariya.co.jp

Step into Browns’ Grade II* listed Brook Street flagship in London’s Mayfair, and should you have the renowned retailer’s App downloaded on your phone, it will recognise that you’re standing in its newest four floor physical location. Through a combination of bricks-and-mortar and digital technology, shoppers in the space will not only be able to browse clothing merchandised according to trend on its gleaming rails, but they’ll be able to observe what items on their personal Wish List are available in store IRL, scan QR codes to view infinite shopping shelves, and even access their Recently Viewed items through virtual mirrors on the top floor private shopping suites. Should shoppers wish to make a purchase, there's no faffing at tills. They can even complete their purchase from home, have their bags delivered at a later date, and even plan out the rest of their day through the assistance of an in-store concierge.

Welcome to the world of retail in 2021

Experiential, immersive, holistic, and where the physical and the digital combine. ‘You need storytelling and technology to exist in a retail landscape today,’ says Browns Chair Holli Rogers of the intention behind the store. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, physical retail profits have plummeted. According to Bain, online luxury market sales made up €40 billion in 2020, up from 2019's €33 billion. Online purchasing nearly doubled from 12 percent in 2019 to 23 percent in 2020. ‘We need to give people reasons to be in the space apart from just shopping,’ Rogers adds.

And reasons there are aplenty. Browns Brook Street is a stones' throw from the retailer's original South Molton Street location, which was opened by Joan and Sidney Burstein over a half century ago, and launched the careers of designers including John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan. In addition to rooms dedicated to fine jewellery and watches, shoes, sneakers and emerging men's and women's fashion talent like Parisian eco-aware designer Marine Serre, the space also boasts a sustainably-led restaurant Native, designed by Shoreditch-based Red Deer Architects, a sun-filled courtyard (ideal for outdoor dining), a parlour for wellness and beauty treatments, and an ‘Immersive’ room, that features rotating unusual experiences.

Rogers adds that the concept of the store encapsulates ‘an understanding of the past and the future’, a vision also reflected in the interior architecture of the space. 39 Brook Street was built in 1720 and the space housed interior decoration company Colefax and Fowler, and the private residence of its owner Nancy Lancaster. Original design elements are celebrated and juxtaposed against mid-century modern pieces, in an interior concept by Wallpaper* Design Award winners Dimore Studio.

Period Flemish paintings and murals sit alongside clean modular fixtures in steel and iron, inspired by Donald Judd, Carl Andre and Fausto Melotti. Custom hand-painted floral wallpaper nods to original Victorian motifs, and plays off minimalist furniture and lighting by Eileen Gray, Arflex and Gino Sarfatti. Metallic walls plus jewel tone carpets evoke the century-old grandeur of the space, which is united by its original central staircase, completed by a geometric Dimore Studio-designed light installation.

‘It's an elegant, cultured and dynamic space,' says Dimore Studio's Emiliano Salci. ‘We have used free standing structures able to adapt to a more dynamic and evolving shopping experience'. In Browns' Brook Street The Yellow Room, located on its womenswear floor, original interior details have been left untouched, and the tones of the walls reflect the existing 1950s colour of the space. The modular interior not only houses clothing by brands including Jil Sander, Loewe and Simone Rocha, it can be transformed into a ball room or party space, for hosting intimate dinners and events.

Changing the game

The holistic success of the space also incorporates digital strides that Browns has taken in the past 12 months. In a way to enhance the e-commerce shopping experience, the retailer has launched AR trying on technology allowing customers to virtually try on watches and trainers. The technology launched in collaboration with Farfetch, the e-commerce disruptor which bought Browns in 2015. ‘Trends in gaming have really tapped into how people are shopping on their phones,' Rogers says. ‘AR is a new way to engage with our customers.'

‘Customers are saying "give me something that wows me"', Rogers adds of consumer expectations of physical retail today. Browns Brook Street certainly makes a long-lasting impression.

INFORMATION
brownsfashion.com

ADDRESS

39 Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4JE

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Often, great things come in small packages, and this new hair salon interior in New York's chic Gramercy Park neighbourhood is a case in point. Named Minor Rose, the space was designed by Evan Erlebacher of Brooklyn-based architecture studio Also Office. The project, for hairstylist Bradley Scott Rosen, was conceived as a boutique, perfectly detailed interior that is at once fit for purpose and aesthetically sharp. 

The business expected to host a maximum of two people at any time – the stylist and the client – so the interior, a two-chair salon, was created as an ‘intimate' space, explains Erlebacher. ‘As basic forms of social intimacy are renegotiated [with the pandemic], the salon can be a sanctuary for human connection,' adds Rosen. ‘I wanted a space that acts as a silent collaborator: a frame that augments the work that is done behind the chair.'

Even though small in scale, the project didn't come without its challenges. ‘The main challenge here was a combination of working with a small space, under a tight schedule, with affordability in mind, in the summer of 2020 when both the construction and service industries were at a standstill,' says Erlebacher, who leads the young, boutique studio. He has tackled everything from residential, to retail and commercial work in the past, and currently has residential and art projects in the pipeline. 

‘To enlarge the appearance of the interior, we punctuated the walls with mirrored, architectural niches to reflect and multiply the space beyond its modest footprint,' he continues. ‘Using mirrors was a natural choice for the salon, which is all about the experience of looking from different perspectives – both for Bradley and his clients. We wanted the design of the salon to be elemental so that it created a simple frame for that relationship.'

The choice of materials was important to achieve this. The design cleverly uses mirrors, polished aluminum, concrete, and oriented strand board (OSB) to orchestrate a neat, uncluttered space that conceals all the chaotic functions of a hair salon. There are two custom-made, rolling workstations clad in aluminium that give what could have been just a simple storage solution a monolithic, sculptural quality. Rosen was open to ideas: ‘I wanted the space to function as a hair salon without necessarily looking or feeling like one.'

Clean and minimalist here doesn't equate to sterile, nor does it mean that form overshadows function. ‘We coaxed additional texture out of the OSB wall panels by using two contrasting layers of dark and light paint to create a fine grained background,' says Erlebacher. ‘The overall intention for the salon was to be as fundamental, even abstracted, as possible, so that everything in it felt essential and considered.'

INFORMATION

also-office.com

It takes some chutzpah to open a New York flagship store right now, or at least the confidence that you are on a serious roll. But after launching the first fruits of a partnership deal with Roger Federer earlier this year, and with sales sharply up-ticking, the Swiss sportswear brand On definitely has momentum.

Launched just ten years ago with radically pared-back design and a radical new sole technology, the brand now offers 26 different styles, has an expanding apparel range and is slowly and carefully stretching beyond its core road and trail running roots, launching its first streetwear shoe, the Cloudnova, this spring.

The Lafayette Street store, first On store anywhere, showcases the collection but in a suitably clean-lined, purposeful and tech-driven way. And matches just the right amount of retail theatre with friction-free functionality. The centre piece of the new store, designed in collaboration with architect Andreas Bozarth Fornell, is a 62 ft long magic wall which aims to make finding the right pair of shoes fast and fun. One side of the wall is loaded with a video screen backed with all kinds of smart sensors and gait-analysis technology. Customers just have to take a few energetic strides for the tech to establish their exact foot size and volume and which three shoes best match their purpose and particular rock and roll. An avatar of the runner appears on the giant screen, visible to passers-by outside, alongside a text breakdown of their running style (in Helvetica, On co-founder and CEO David Alleman points out. On are very proudly Swiss.)

On the other side of Magic Wall is a complete library of On shoes in all sizes and colours. So no sitting around in your socks while a harried sales assistant rummages around in the storeroom only to discover they haven’t got your size. ‘We want to fix that broken experience,' says Alleman.

Alleman says the store has something of the science museum about it, combining ‘storytelling and technology’. And while materially, the 16,000 sq ft store is heavy on sharp lines, raw aluminum, mirror polished steel, concrete, Oregon pine wood and fibreglass, the architects have added touches of sensorial whimsy with changing rooms alive with the sounds and smells of the Swiss Alps. Another nod to the brand’s Alpine roots is a 3D-printed red boulder, a precise replica of a boulder found in the Engadine valley. Customers who hold their smartphones near the boulder can take a deeper dive into the brand’s backstory and product info. Alleman says the store will also become a physical starting line and social space for local runners and the brand will organise runs from the store.

Other stores in London, Tokyo and Shanghai may follow Alleman says but the brand will see how the New York store performs before making any moves. He acknowledges that the Covid-19-era embrace of running and the outdoors has meant that online sales have been beyond healthy for On. And it has been working with smaller independent stockists hit by the pandemic but not able to fall back on online sales, creating a microsite on the main On site where they can send their customers and still get their cut. ‘These stores were great advocates and supported us so we wanted to give something back.'

Next year On is launching the Cyclon, a fully re-cyclable running shoe only available on subscription. Runners can receive a new pair of shoes after 6-9 months as long as they return the first pair. ‘There have been a lot of advances in terms of more sustainable shoes,' says Alleman. ‘But a lot of people just buy them and keep them but we want to give the shoes a second life.' In fact, the shoes can have multiple lives. After they’ve done their miles, they can simply be shredded, turned into pellets and used to make new Cyclon or components for other shoes.

INFORMATION

on-running.com

In recent years, brands and boutiques have looked to the multifunctional retail space – one that doesn’t just sell luxury wares, but encompasses an entire lifestyle. In London, Matchesfashion’s five storey townhouse on Carlos Place is the site of pop-ups, events and a top floor cafe, while Loewe’s flagship on New Bond Street, is inspired by the home of a collector, populated with ceramics and sculptures that evoke the Madrid-based brand’s art-inspired aesthetic.

When Nanushka’s Sandra Sandor was conceiving her first flagship in the UK’s capital, the concept of the home was paramount to the Hungarian designer. The majestic multi-floor 520 sq m space, located on Bruton Street in Mayfair, has been conceived as a serenely-hued house (just like its New York and Budapest spaces), complete with cafe, lounge-inspired rooms and an indoor garden. It was natural then, that Sandor has worked with Festen Architecture, the Paris-based firm more associated with hotel design – including the Instagram favourite Hôtel Les Roches Rouges on the French Riviera – for the flagship's interior. ‘Their vision of design and living are very close to our heart,' say Sandor and Nanushka's CEO Peter Baldaszti. ‘Good retail is about hospitality, not selling more'. 

Selling more happens to be something Nanushka is also well versed in. Despite the financial and social implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, the brand has experienced 15 per cent growth this year, in part due to the popularity of its well-priced vegan leather. Nanushka's men's and women's collections, which for A/W 2020 feature fluid silk dresses, double-breasted suiting and vegan leather puffer jackets in 1970s shades – are showcased within the space. This is populated with striking mid-century furniture by Fabio Lenci and fellow Hungarians Paul Laszlo and Marcel Breuer, which is juxtaposed against original 19 century features, including Modillon cornices and ornate Rococo architrave chimneypieces. Custom furniture includes a periwinkle blue crescent shaped sofa, formed from regenerated leather. ‘We introduced a new technique in our autumn collection,' say Sandor and Baldaszti, ‘that sees scraps of leather pressed together.'

The Forbidden Cloister ring set

Other design elements in the space nod to Nanushka's Hungarian heritage, including timber totem poles or ‘kopjafa', which complement hand carved clothing rails and a wood and ceramic  Shogun table by Roger Capron. ‘These are well-known and traditional cultural symbols originating from Hungary and its surrounding countries. Originally, they were used as headstones, and nowadays they are used as memorial columns calmed by artisans,' say Sandor and Baldaszti. Vintage elements also reference the brand's eco-aware output, which for autumn features not just vegan leather but recycled wool and cady, a material sourced from sustainably managed forests.

‘Our stores have coffee places incorporated into their spaces as historically, Budapest was one of the most important birthplaces of coffee house culture together with Vienna,' they add. Nanushka's flagship even has muti glaze porcelain cups crafted by Sandor herself and produced in collaboration with Natalia Nemes of Noha studio. ‘We want to make it feel like you are stepping into our home, where you feel comfortable to sit down and have a cup of coffee or tea.' We're drinking everything in.

INFORMATION

nanushka.com

ADDRESS

30 Bruton Street
Mayfair
London
W1J 6QR

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Founded by Chicagoan Eric Williams in 1997, The Silver Room is one of the North American city's prominent retail destinations, known even beyond its urban borders for championing local artists and in particular, artists of colour. Now, the 1,500 sq ft southside boutique and community space has just been redesigned by local architecture studio Future Firm and designer and educator Norman Teague.

Located in the vibrant Hyde Park neighbourhood, the space needed to be truly multi-functional, often shifting from boutique to a variety of other functions daily. ‘Inherently it’s a retail store, but it’s much more than that. It’s a community space, it’s a gathering space, it’s a place for book signings, it’s a dance floor, it’s a place for fashion shows. I like the fact that it’s a lot of different things, and the more people who discover it, the more things it can become,' says Williams. ‘The way I look at it, we just kind of create a platform and people who come in can create what they want from it.'

Future Firm founders Ann Lui and Craig Reschke focused on creating a simple and utilitarian, yet flexible interior in white and grey tones. ‘A minimal design approach becomes a platform for the people, products, events that are the core of Silver Room to take center stage,' says Lui.

The space is vividly occupied by custom plywood display systems, designed in collaboration with Norman Teague Design Studios - each created with The Silver Room's curated selection of products in mind, including from fashion accessories to jewellery and products. Following the overall approach that emphasises flexibility, each unit allows simple but significant adjustments to adapt as merchandise changes. 

Where relevant and possible, the team incorporated in their designs material from the store's previous iterations – The Silver Room has had three location and 10 redesigns in the course of its life so far – giving the project a strong sense of continuity and identity, on top of its refined aesthetic and strong functionality. 

INFORMATION

future-firm.org

normanteaguedesignstudios.com

Nike’s opening of its new flagship store in Paris this week, known as House of Innovation 002, blazes a trail to show what the new face of retail, in both the physical and digital sense, could look like.

Located on the Champs-Elyseés in a historic building dating from 1928, the four-floor, 26,000 sq ft Nike hub brings together its men’s, women’s and kids collections under one dynamic roof.

‘We began the process of designing these houses of innovation to build on a lineage of Nike being an innovator in product and athletics, but also in the field of retail,’ recounts Nike’s chief design officer, John Hoke. ‘That’s been the drive and desire; to create a space and a portal, which blends these architectonic elements of physical buildings, ie. the hardscape, with the mediascape and the social mediascape all together to keep people engaged. We also wanted to peel back the curtain on what it’s like to be innovative as a company. Being an innovator means that you try things and fail, but you learn and adjust. Our Houses of Innovation try to delve into that commitment that we have.’

Designed with screens seamlessly embedded throughout the space, which broadcast data from its activity training apps, the Nike Sports Research lab, global and local weather reports as well as sporting events, the store’s futuristic shopping experience in fact begins even before you step into the physical space.

In a seamless integration of the online and offline shopping experience, Nike app members will be first alerted when entering or in the vicinity of the store with news and product features. As they work their way through the boutique, they are able to scan the barcodes of products via the app, in order to learn more about sizes and colours that are currently available in real time.

‘Finding that perfect blend of the physical and digital and bringing in more of the personal applications was something we learnt [from the first two flagship stores in New York and Shanghai],’ explains Hoke. ‘We could extend that experience before you get to the store, while you’re in the store and then after. That engagement is elongated beyond the time you are in the space and what that does for us is it creates that broader and richer dialogue back and forth.’

Scanning barcodes also enables customers to select which items, be it a single product or an entire look that’s displayed on a mannequin, they would like to have brought to a fitting room for trying on – all possible without having to come into contact with shop staff, should that be a priority. Further enhanced by Nike Fit technology, which allows individuals to photograph and thus scan their feet in order to determine the right shoe size, that now has been newly extended to include Bra Fit, a significant amount of guesswork (and interaction) that typically accompanies shopping has been eliminated.

‘We have an unwavering commitment to the health and well-being of our employees. We have approached this store and opening with the utmost care and concern that goes way beyond the basics,’ Hoke asserts, adding that signage reminding customer and staff about social distancing rules have been incorporated all around the space. ‘We haven’t retro-fitted anything. Our designs to mitigate Covid-19 are as intentional and seamless as the designs in store. The aesthetics, placement and graphic nature [of the signage] is both beautifully done and informative. If you look across the panorama of the store, it all makes sense and fits right in.’

Aesthetically, the multi-use space, which took four years to reconfigure, nods to both Nike’s spirit for innovation and the city’s rich history. Behind the building’s refined stone façade, which was thoroughly restored, statuesque cantilevered staircases held in place by steel pin joint trace the building’s interior circumference, leaving a soaring, digitally enabled tower at its core. Many of the store’s mechanical inner workings, from its malleable event space that’s functions like a sound stage to the motoring of its escalators, have also been left intentionally exposed to allow visitors to observe their functions at face value, not unlike Nike’s Air Max shoes.

Most noteworthy is Nike’s continued commitment to sustainability, which weaves its way through the new boutique at multiple levels. Over 85,000 kilograms of sustainable material has been integrated into the store’s design and display fixtures. It also operates entirely on renewable energy. In addition to an array of sustainably made products (ranging from the recycled French national football team kits to its Flyknit sports bra that’s made from less material to limit waste) which are featured on every floor, the boutique also serves as a gateway for Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program, where shoes of any brand can be donated and transformed into Nike Grind, a material also seen in the store’s walls and floors.

‘Our role as a brand is to be very thoughtful about sport and our planet,’ Hoke affirms. ‘I believe that sport is a birthright for every generation. It is our job as designers to protect the future of sport for the next generation and beyond. [Just like] the Bauhaus launched ‘form follows function’ as call to action 80 years ago, I don’t think that is enough anymore. Where I’m going is ‘form and function follows footprint’. There’s an added constraint, an added opportunity to create, and that’s our footprint. That should change utility and the aesthetic for the better with no compromises. We care about the ecosystem and the ecology that our athletes play in. It’s our responsibility to do a better job for our planet.’

INFORMATION

nike.com

Over two decades ago, Los Angeles based architects Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena embarked on a career trajectory that explored a trifecta of their collective passions: architectural history, cultural topography and the art world. ‘There are three legs of our practice and they are all connected – there are no firm walls between them, one shapes the other,' said Escher.

The duo has collaborated on historic preservation projects of iconic homes, from John Lautner’s Chemosphere to the Eames house. ‘Over 20 years ago, we were interested in architectural history and art but it has expanded dramatically from local [projects] to all over the US and Europe,' said Escher, ‘and, LA has become an international center for contemporary art.'

When they are not finishing up the Venice Biennale exhibition space for Sharon Lockhart - whom they have been working with for the past 15 years - they are collaborating with artists from Mike Kelley to Stephen Prina. ‘What has developed in the last 20 years, is that these interests are merging,' said GuneWardena.  This includes projects such as the LACMA exhibition ‘The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka' and a pop-up shop for Hermès Petit h in Orange County.

The pair has just completed a new showroom for contemporary, antique and limited edition, hand-woven rug maker’s Woven, across the street from the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood; expertly realised with the help of the studio's Cristiano Aires-Texeira, who was the work's project manager.

‘Woven already had an interesting visual identity,' said GuneWardena, ‘they were already working with artist Rose Mendez and they spoke a similar language to what we are interested in.' This translates to ‘paring down any space, project or assignment to what is essential and then taking away all the distractions,' he said. Since Woven was a project about rugs, ‘we created an atmosphere where the focus is on that product more than architectural work. Though we take great care in creating the architecture, it’s always about giving the pride of place to the activity or product we are working on.'

The rugs are set amid expansive concrete spaces conjuring the atmosphere of the international souks and bazaars in a labyrinth of different routes and pockets with natural light streaming in, positioned as a permanent installation. ‘It’s an attitude that came from working with artists and designing exhibitions,' said Escher. ‘It’s important to understand how you frame things, so people see what you want them to see.' According to GuneWardena, ‘the other thing that informs the layout is really a choreographic path through the space. How can the architecture inform, rather than using signs or a sales person?'

Back to residential and cultural endeavors, current projects include working on restoring Paul Williams personal home, a Richard Neutra house, and a church in Lincoln Heights that was central to the Chicano rights movement.

Another part of the team’s work that developed in the last few decades is exploring spirituality and their environments, as well as the interesting history of religions melding together. Next up for the team is building a Buddhist retreat center in the California San Gabriel Mountain range, and an episcopal Franciscan monastery in an affordable housing project in Riverside, California. 

MORE FROM WALLPAPER* ARCHITECTS DIRECTORY

INFORMATION

eschergunewardena.com

This quirky golden-brown stone and glass structure is the recently completed Galleria Department Store in the city of Gwanggyo, just 40 minutes south of Seoul. The Gwanggyo store is the sixth and largest branch of the luxury department store franchise owned by Hanwha and has been designed by Rem Koolhaas’ architecture firm OMA, in collaboration with local Korean architecture firm Gansam.

The building had been the talk of town during its construction due to its eye-catching design. The textured mosaic stone façade has trails of rugged glass protruding from it, in stark contrast with the opacity of the stone. As if a sculpted stone is emerging from the ground, the architecture evokes nature – from the neighbouring Suwon Gwanggyo Lake Park – and connects it with the urban environment surrounded by ubiquitous high-rise buildings.

A public route has been excavated from the stone volume as a multifaceted glass façade facing out, twirling up towards the rooftop garden. For passersby, this is a fascinating element to observe, while for visitors inside, this transparent passage offers alternative vantage points to explore and enjoy the city while moving up the escalators.

‘With a public loop deliberately designed for cultural offerings, Galleria in Gwanggyo is a place where visitors engage with architecture and culture as they shop. They leave with a unique retail experience blended with pleasant surprises after each visit,’ says OMA partner Chris van Duijn who led the project.

What distinguishes the building from other department stores is that the Galleria Gwanggyo is the first department store in Korea to allow light to enter the building from all corners through the ‘Public Loop’. Department stores have traditionally been built as closed structures with no windows so that customers lose their sense of time and focus on shopping. This new attempt by Galleria is revolutionary in that sense – as it has masterfully incorporated light as a mechanism to bring joy and entertainment, and in turn, tempting customers to linger longer.

INFORMATION

oma.eu

It is Kengo Kuma’s ‘nth visit’ to the Amanpuri hotel on the island of Phuket in Thailand, which he first visited nearly 30 years ago, and it’s no wonder that the internationally renowned Japanese architect feels content here. On this paradise peninsula, abundant with nature and peacefully dotted with pitch-roofed pavilions, who wouldn't?

Yet perhaps it’s because Kuma and the Aman hotel brand both have some philosophies in common – the fusion of eastern and western cultures, the embrace of nature and simplicity, and a forward-thinking approach combined with traditional values.

Their relationship was further forged when Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKAA) designed a unique range of bottles for Aman’s new skincare range, released in 2019. So when Aman decided to embark on adding a new retail store for the Amanpuri, the first of its kind of the Aman brand, there was sure to be a meeting of minds.

With its peaceful setting and contextually sensitive design, the Amanpuri was the first Aman that set a high precedent for every destination (32 and counting) that then followed from Bali to Utah. Designed by architect Ed Tuttle in 1989, the resort is defined by its nature-immersed village of private pitched roofed pavilions connected by stepped pathways, inspired by the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya.

It was a good place to start for this first store, intended as a prototype for more to come, imagined as a curated stage for the best local and international design objects, clothing and jewellery. ‘This is a shop, but the concept of the shop is far beyond a shop,’ says Kuma, who has crafted show-stopping retail environments for Camper in Barcelona and Valextra in Milan. ‘We designed the space as a museum of the Aman resorts, where space has a special conversation with the philosophy behind the art and the product.’

Beautifully framed by KKAA’s columnless design, every piece for the store has been handpicked by Karen Schneider, global head of retail for Aman. From the softest bamboo and cotton mix leisure-wear, to the Kengo Kuma-designed Aman skincare range, and modern pieces informed by traditional craft – such as unique art objects from Lotus Arts de Vivre’s Bangkok gallery, atta grass bags handcrafted in Bali by Stelar and gold-lined bronze works by British-born Alexander Lamont, the offering is diverse and eclectic.

KKAA’s holistic approach imagined how an Amanpuri guest might find their way into the space – being visually welcomed by its soft geometry on arrival to the resort, casually meandering through from the spa, or walking through the entrance pavilion on the way back from breakfast perhaps. ‘The space is about the site and the pathway,’ says Kuma, ‘we just happened to cap it with a series of roofs’.

While the pitched roofs and strong axis of the building echo the traditional Thai architecture that informed Tuttle so strongly, there are some subtle differences to Kuma’s more Japanese approach, explains Balazs Bognar, design director at KKAA. ‘If you go to some of the temples in Bangkok, you can see series of stupas that appear like objects or talismans that you really cannot inhabit. In Japanese examples, it is about entry, sequence and the in-between. Our pavilion is about sequence, spatial flow, continuity.’

Both remarkably sculptural and beautifully precise, the layered roofs of the pavilion dissolve into their lush leafy environment, where the dark tiles absorb the midsummer light. This perceived lightness and simplicity however hides the challenge that came with combining two structural systems, one of cross-laminated timber, and one of steel, with glass partitions.

‘Creating the gaps between the roofs was not easy – structurally it is totally separated, and each roof is independent,’ says Kuma, who owes his success in combining the latest technology with traditional Japanese design principles, to collaborating with engineers from the very start of the design process.

The engineering explored in this pavilion has also been used for the Tokyo New National Stadium project, which uses the same system on a larger scale: ‘We learnt much from this experience to pass to the new building which will be one of the most unique CLT buildings. It is higher, with a bigger void and natural light comes through the gaps between the CLT panels,’ says Kuma.

All of this effort is geared towards helping the architecture diffuse into nature following the principles of Kuma’s 2008 thesis Anti-Object. Here at the Amanpuri pavilion, natural materials are at the forefront, construction is exposed, and a very special lighting effect occurs: ‘The light is filtered, which we call the komorebe effect, translated as ‘dappled light’. In the forest you feel dappled light through the leaves, and here we have tried and create that kind of atmosphere.’

A powerful connection to the earth is created by the sweeping roof composition, which grazes the sloping ground and shades the building with its extended eave. At the same time it also extends up high – the tallest roof is 9 metres, giving the retail space a special presence, like that of a museum, yet still levelling to a similar height to the neighbouring gallery pavilion.

‘Thai architecture and Japanese architecture both have some vocabulary in common,’ says Kuma. ‘Intimacy and human scale are important to both cultures, and sculpting the roof is one solution to creating intimacy. In Japanese architecture, we use the soffit and a small entrance to mediate the exterior and the interior, it’s a kind of Asian wisdom and a solution for [connecting the building to] the environment.’

Capturing both the dignity of a museum and the warmth of a living room, the pavilion might have been designed as a pathway that falls into step with its surroundings, yet it has also been designed as a new extension into the future for the Aman brand. And we have a feeling that this is just the beginning of a very fruitful journey for KKAA and Aman.

INFORMATION

kkaa.co.jp

aman.com/resorts/amanpuri

ADDRESS

Amanpuri
Pansea Beach Cherngtalay
Thalang District
Phuket 83110
Thailand

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District 2 of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is one of the Southeast Asian urban hub’s fastest developing areas, currently making its way from being one of the poorest to one of the most modern.

Bridging old and new in this context is key to maintaining the city’s character and history, and this is the approach that Italian architecture firm Locatelli Partners took when designing its latest project there, French-style ‘epicerie’ grocery store complex Le Square.

The scheme, which combines an existing colonial-style villa and an L-shaped new build, contains food shops and a restaurant on the ground level, with co-working spaces and offices upstairs.

A delicate mesh cladding connects the old and new parts in a semi-transparent ‘cloud’. Different colour tones on the cladding help distinguish various parts of the new construction, while Massimiliano Locatelli and his team opened up the interior of the old villa to create generous, arched new spaces, maintaining the original stone staircase at its heart.

As originally featured in the November 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*248) – on newsstands now

INFORMATION
locatellipartners.com

lesquare-epicierfin.com.vn

On a late evening in July, billionaire Hong Kong developer Adrian Cheng points a laser beam at a single light bulb, one of 1,800 scattered across the ceiling of the 35m-high atrium in his newest and most ambitious project yet. The atmosphere Cheng wants to create is that of a sparkling galaxy, and this is best achieved through a diverse range of lighting intensities, so he is identifying each light and adjusting their illumination one by one.

The process is painstaking, but Cheng has spent ten years considering almost every detail of his bold new ten-storey retail-and-art complex, designed to appeal to brand-savvy millennials. The project is very personal. K11 Musea is the last segment of the ambitious US$2.6bn Victoria Dockside cultural district on a 28-hectare site on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. Originally known as Holt’s Wharf, the district was an important railway hub before it was bought in 1971 by Cheng’s grandfather, the local hotel and property magnate Cheng Yu-Tung, who turned it into New World Centre, a retail, hotel, residential and office complex.

It was closed in 2009 to allow for the redevelopment, which already includes a 65-storey Tony Chi-designed Rosewood flagship hotel, the K11 Atelier office tower, and the 21-storey K11 Artus residences, with interiors by architect André Fu. K11 Musea, camouflaged with a 5,000 sq m living garden façade, is the collaborative effort of 100 architects, artists, craftsmen, conservationists and designers, working with James Corner Field Operations and Kohn Pedersen Fox. ‘I don’t think one person can do everything, so that is why we have so many designers and one person – me – to pull it together,’ Cheng says of this unusual, multi-designer approach.

Part of Cheng’s vision includes rethinking the city’s ubiquitous, inward-looking megablock malls by creating well-designed connections between K11 Musea and the harbour-front public promenade, upgraded as part of the project. A 100m-long, 40m-wide and 8.4m-high ‘visual corridor’, a strategic opening lined with butterfly-shaped panels that can be programmed to create special lighting effects, now links Tsim Sha Tsui and the water. ‘K11 Musea is the core that holds Victoria Dockside together,’ Cheng explains. ‘It is a hub. I think of it as a cultural Silicon Valley.’

The project’s sustainability credentials are impressive, including gold certifications by Leed and Hong Kong Beam Plus. There’s significant green space, with vertical green walls, a rooftop kitchen garden and playgrounds, as well as urban biodiversity exhibits of rare and local plants, and a top-floor aquarium that reflects the harbour’s aquatic life. Rainwater harvesting provides 100 per cent of the project’s irrigation water, while a seawater-cooled, oil-free heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system reduces energy consumption.

Inside, K11 Musea continues its divergence from generic luxury retail offerings with an immersive ‘phygital’ shopping experience that Cheng says embraces the digital world. ‘We don’t see digital retail as the enemy. Both [physical and digital] worlds are key to being relevant in the future.’ Cheng should know: he has spent the last decade combining retail with a beguiling mix of craft, heritage, design and creativity at his K11 shopping malls in China and Hong Kong.

This philosophy has been extended to several of his high-end residential and office projects. Together with the findings of a K11 task force that researches what Generation Z, millennials, and Generation Alpha (born after 2010, the year Instagram and the iPad launched) super-consumers in Asia want, it underpins his belief that the way forward is for K11 Musea to be an ultra high-end, experiential retail, art, cultural and dining destination. Exclusive, bespoke products will be on offer from the likes of MoMA’s first permanent store in China and Moda Operandi’s first showroom in Asia. K11 Musea will also house Van Cleef & Arpels’ first permanent School of Jewellery Arts outside Paris. ‘We only pick stores that have craftsmanship or heritage and, at the same time, are innovative and embrace technology in a serious way. These are the ones that millennials feel are relevant,’ says Cheng.

Online services include in-mall mobile digital guided tours, an app enabling customers to click and collect purchases and navigate the art, architecture and furniture on show. There are also plans to add a digital graffiti canvas where visitors can create their own artwork. ‘Millennials want to connect and be with like-minded people. They just buy and spend in their own pattern,’ Cheng explains.

Inside, the look is decidedly luxurious. Walls are clad with intricate arrangements of curved ribbon-like aluminium panels finished in a natural rust effect. Inspired by the site’s industrial past, a striking chandelier of tangled iron tubes, custom-designed by Maxim Velčovský, art director of Czech glass specialist Lasvit, pumps out steam at the 15m-high main entrance. Beyond that, in the vast atrium, a dramatic gold ball, 10.4m in diameter, is comprised of spherical chambers that will house exhibitions and events.

Outdoors, there are public artworks, a coffee kiosk designed by OMA with a 14m-diameter, 4m-tall inflatable disc that will act as signage to highlight major events, and a 185 sq m sunken amphitheatre with curved glass panels, a giant LED screen and a programmed water wall that will be used for K11 Musea’s film festivals and live concerts. The street-facing façade features more green walls and a metal screen by Thai design studio P Landscape.

Contemporary art is a key feature throughout. Highlights include Elmgreen & Dragset’s 9m-high Van Gogh’s Ear (initially displayed outside New York’s Rockefeller Center); a bright yellow Hot Dog Bus installation by Erwin Wurm; and Chinese artist Zhang Enli’s Parrots of Five Colours, a specially commissioned artwork featuring a painted dome ceiling. Level three is dedicated to street fashion and graffiti, with an extraordinary cacophony of works by artists such as Adrian Wong, Ron English and Geng Yini. Meanwhile, Cheng’s K11 Craft & Guild Foundation exhibitions will focus on traditional Chinese crafts in pop-up displays throughout K11 Musea.

It certainly doesn’t feel much like a traditional shopping mall, and this is perhaps the most radical potential impact of the scheme: that it offers a serious attempt to break away from conventions and reconsider the traditional physical shopping environment. That in itself makes it astonishingly fresh and progressive. 

As originally featured in the October 2019 issue of Wallpaper* (W*247)

INFORMATION

K11 Musea will open in autumn 2019. k11musea.com

ADDRESS

18 Salisbury Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong

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A good drink is obviously a key draw when in search of a place to rest and grab a coffee during a park walk; but great architecture comes a close second, with design acting as a beacon that attracts visitors, enhancing their experience and sense of recharging. In Hyde Park's latest coffee house, guests can now get both these things for the price of one, courtesy of emerging London and Malta based practice Mizzi Studio. 

The compact building replaced a small kiosk on site and is part of a series of highly architectural coffee spots that Royal Parks are rolling out across Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. The whole scheme comprises some 10 structures, all designed by the young studio, which is headed by architect Jonathan Mizzi.

‘The parks exist to enrich the life of the visitors', he says. ‘The kiosks may be small, but they provide a very important service. This was an opportunity for the parks to transform their identity and really enrich the visitor experience'.

The new coffee house is different to the kiosks, primarily because of its size, but also due to its distinctive approach in terms of shapes, methods and materials. ‘[The structures] all share a genetic make up, but each one is a little different', says Mizzi. The studio's approach is inspired by both modern and traditional techniques. ‘We found our voice in fusing the digital with the physical and the human element', he explains.

So, the coffee house design mixes influences from both context and the digital architecture world, as well as engineering advances. The structure was conceived like a ‘serpent that comes out of the lake, a smiling stingray', says Mizzi, who put together an impressive, curvaceous brass roof (‘it's a regal but earthy colour', the architect points out) and a glass box underneath. At the same time, looking up makes you think of a ‘reptilian underbelly', explains Mizzi. 

The use of the right materials was very important for Mizzi to get the effect he desired, and the team combined glass, terrazzo floors, blue tiles and metal, with roof milled out of one piece of foam in CNC and laminated in carbon fibre. The brass effect is subtly polished and hand patinated to perfection. Connecting with a lived-in, human and tactile element was key for the team, when creating a structure among nature.

One more kiosk is due to launch in Hyde Park this autumn completing Mizzi and his client's vision for this sequence of functional mini-structures, aiming to enrich the park-goers' visitor experience through design; while offering some top quality coffee to boot. 

INFORMATION

mizzi.co

Esrawe studio has designed a retail, exhibition, warehouse and workspace for Grupo Arca, a global platform for sourcing and disseminating natural and technological raw materials. The new building, located in Guadalajara, Mexico, was aesthetically inspired by the form of a quarry – described by the designers as a typology in itself, a manmade space sculpted through the search for raw materials, described by Edward Burtynsky as a ‘manufactured landscape’.

Grupo Arca wanted a building that expressed its desire to combine the construction industry with the cultural and creative expression of Mexico. They turned to Mexico City-based cross-disciplinary design atelier Esrawe. For them, blending traditionally siloed disciplines has become second nature – founded by designer Héctor Esrawe in 2003, the studio freely crosses from furniture and objects to interiors, commercial spaces, installations and cultural exhibitions and back again.

Taking the quarry as the starting point for the design, Esrawe sculpted an imposing façade that echoes the monolithic nature of a rock face. A small entrance exacerbates the dramatic scale further still, yet inside visitors are confronted by a welcoming space that feels more like a museum lobby than that of a retail space. Creative displays and subtle way-finding guide people towards a Design Center, cafe, and a multipurpose events space.

Architecturally and conceptually, creativity sits side by side with industry. In addition to this cultural building, a second separate volume performs as a ‘functional container’ for a storage warehouse and distribution centre. The warehouse is equipped to help users discover materials through QR codes that with a simple scam provide the description and costs of selected materials – which also feeds into a database of previous purchases, trends and purchasing behaviour. Meanwhile, a huge opening overlooking the surrounding forest, always reminds professionals of the origins of the materials they are browsing.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Esrawe Studio website

When there’s the option to satisfy retail urges using phones, tablets and computers in the comfort of our homes, during lunch breaks or while commuting, navigating through stores that are often disorganised and lack curation offers little appeal to modern day shoppers. To stay relevant, retailers are finding ever more creative ways to cater to the demands of consumers.

The cosmetics pharmacy HARMAY has recently taken up the challenge with a new store in Hong Kong. The online cosmetics retailer joined the physical retail world first when they opened their ‘bricks and mortar’ store in Shanghai– designed by AIM Architecture, in 2017. Its success has led to the design of a second location with AIM in Hong Kong that delves further into the relationship between its online and offline presence.

Quietly unassuming among the hustle and bustle of the narrow shopping street, upon closer inspection, the store’s steely metallic décor with LED lighting marks it out as something new for the neighbourhood.

Drawing inspiration from old-school chemists, stainless steel drawers line the walls of the Hong Kong apothecary, making the space feel uncluttered, organised and calming. It is not designed to be about shopping activities, as you can do that online; it exists to provide a sensory experience that is all about ‘discovery’.

This smart approach to retail by HARMAY involves visitors being given subtle hints that encourage them to open the drawers and find the hidden product bringing a feeling of nostalgia from our childhood treasure hunting days and making the experience a memorable one. The second floor design meanwhile is more conventional ‘immersing you in the tactile experience of traditional shopping.’

Hong Kong may be a notoriously cramped city but the apothecary offers a semblance of spaciousness on both floors. It is a draw for the ‘curious and engaged consumer’, and the passerby who walks in with an image of what to expect but discovers something else instead.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the AIM Architecture website

Park Slope rarely ranks highly as one of Brooklyn's ‘cool' areas. However, the arrival of a new Aesop store, notably designed by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo has give the homey, family-friendly neighbourhood a covetable cache that should appeal to both residents and visitors alike.

Located on an unassuming corner, just south of a major thoroughfare in the area, Escobedo’s design for Aesop’s latest store is her first completed build since creating the Serpentine Pavilion in London last year. Designed to incite conversation and cultural exchange, the store’s interior riffs off of the historic brownstone houses that dominate the neighbourhood. Its interior is predominantly made up of rich, red bricks, made especially from rammed earth from Escobedo’s native Oaxaca region of Mexico. Arranged in an elegant tessellated pattern and configured into diagonal rows that mimic the angling of brownstone buildings along Park Slope’s streets, the seemingly minimal design is actually steeped in complexity.

‘I’ve been always interested in how a modular, simple material such as brick can create a variety of patterns by changing the arrangement of its linear order,’ Escobedo explains. ‘This process is very similar to weaving; working on binary combinations to create a pattern. While we were working on this process, we were studying some of Anni Albers’ drawings and patterns. This allowed us to have a dialogue with the existing context, but also to propose something new. The result is a rich conversation between the industrial bricks of the neighbourhood facades and the handcrafted tiles inside the store.’

In many ways, Escobedo’s concept for Aesop continues where her design for the Serpentine Pavilion left off. ‘There are some similarities to the Serpentine with the idea of weaving,’ she acknowledges. ‘The Serpentine was more concerned with time and temporality, whereas Aesop Park Slope is more about layering – a layering of histories. They might share the same approach: the use of simple materials, playing with modularity and permutations, in order to create something new.’

However, the process of creating the uniquely shaped bricks that line the shop’s walls are a key and site-specific feature that Escobdeo developed especially with a former student Patricia Medivil and her firm Tata Mosaicos.

‘[The company] only use natural earth pigments to create their tiles [and bricks]. They are made by hand using earth from the Mixteca region in Oaxaca, that has a very intense red colour – it’s so alive,' the architect explains. ‘The result is a tile that has been transformed by the sun to a subtle blush shade, with slight variations in its tone and slight imperfections that show its handcrafted qualities and which will age beautifully over time.’

Juxtaposed with the store’s own restored brick façade and stamped-tin ceiling, the result is an inviting space that supports a range of activities.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Aesop website and the Frida Escobedo website

ADDRESS

225 5th Avenue
Brooklyn
NY 11215

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A book store in Xian, China, designed by Tomoko Ikegai of Ikg Inc brings an adventurous twist to learning and unwinding with swirling walkways, art installations and shelves that house wonder within their widths.

Ikegai wanted to create a place for encounters between ‘people, cultures, and books from around the world’. Combining the typologies of ‘library’ and ‘gallery’, the YJY Maike Centre Flagship is filled with books, nooks to sit and learn, as well as integrated displays for cultural objects. It’s a place of never-ending inspiration.

The history of Xian, which was once the seat of several of China’s most important dynasties, the origin of the Silk Road and also is home to the world-famous Terracotta Army, was a major inspiration for Ikegai’s design. She looked to traditional Japanese and Chinese palace architecture, where sprawling plans took on ideas of urbanism on a human scale through interlinked rooms and courtyards.

At the heart of the impressive space is an open spiral staircase that also functions as a courtyard with its bright flooring and mirrored ceiling. Meanwhile upstairs, on the second level, a 50m long ‘street’ for books with low ceilings and dark interior aesthetic takes visitors on an intellectual journey through the store.

Today, the city has a very different identity. It is one of the main centres of China’s tech industry – and the YJY Maike Centre Flagship is located in a new building at the heart of a modern development, with a Grand Hyatt hotel on the upper floors. This contemporary identity also inspired Ikegai, who sought to reflect elegant luxury through dynamism.

An impressive 10m high book shelf just inside the entryway communicates the concept of the space immediately to anyone who enters; while a lighting concept of fluttering sheets of paper and locally commissioned art reflect Chinese culture in the present.

While the books store is a public space, it holds the warmth of a home with intimate areas to spend time and socialize. The second floor is a lounge with an informal bar counter aimed at local office workers to relax during the day or after work. Ikegai is also behind the creative direction of the Tsutaya book store by Klein Dytham Architecture in Tokyo that has a similarly friendly and engaging approach to space.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Ikg Inc website

ADDRESS

YJY Maike Centre Flagship
No 12 Jinye Road
High Tech Zone
Xian

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On a blustery day, it’s warm inside and inundated with natural light. After whizzing here on public transport, you may rifle through the racks of a brand you’ve only ever seen virtually, wander round the avant-garde art gallery, settle into a lounge for some music. For lunch, choose from a fresh salad, catch of the day or a gluten-free pizza on the heated terrace… without even a whiff of fried potatoes.

This isn’t your average shopping mall. It’s not sprawled across the suburbs behind a moat of parked cars, plagued by oppressive lighting and clearance sales, echoing with the screams of tired children. The 21st-century mall has brands you’ve never heard of making their big splash and brands luring you with 3D printing workshops. They’re located right downtown, designed by visionary architects, not committees of bureaucrats.

In fact, don’t call it a ‘mall’ at all. According to Webber Hudson, executive vice president of Related Companies, which developed New York’s Hudson Yards, the so-called ‘Shops and Restaurants complex’ there ‘is a cornerstone of a vibrant neighbourhood surrounded by 14 acres of public space and new cultural landmarks'.

‘In cities like New York,' he continues, ‘a solid retail mix alone is not enough to entire success. Retail centres must become embedded in their communities, responding to the people who live and work nearby with public spaces, stores, restaurants and experiences that make it part of the local fabric.'

It takes its cues from beloved concept shops like 10 Corso Como and Dover Street Market, designer mini-malls characterised by boutique-brands, installation art and fine-dining (the latter just opened a new space in LA; the former in New York). It lures spenders with ‘worthy' pursuits like theatre and music, gives them convenient access to Uber, lets them touch and feel their favourite online brands and pioneers virtual fitting rooms. And it keeps them there with helpful apps and roving concierges.

As for the architecture, David P Manfredi of Elkus Manfredi, designers of the aforementioned Hudson Yards retail centre, says it begins with smaller store sizes to offer ‘more diversity and density of quality of tenants.' The goal is to resemble beloved shopping districts like Le Marais in Paris and Xintiandi in Shanghai – ‘filled with many storefronts per block which engages pedestrians and adds intensity to the experience.'

Rather than focus the consumer’s attention inward, Manfredi emphasises openness to public squares and cultural spaces, ‘a place to build community on a grand scale.'

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Related website, the Ekus Manfredi website, and the Hudson Yards website

MoreySmith has smoothly embedded a contemporary global headquarters for British luxury goods brand Dunhill into the layered fabric of the historic Mayfair neighbourhood – just a stone’s throne from Selfridges on North Audley street. Staged across two floors of a heritage building with a decorative red-brick façade, the office brings Dunhill’s showrooms, creative studios and head offices together, all connected by a generous statement staircase and wrapped up with bespoke detailing – think leather, horsehair and delicately patterned glazing.

No stranger to the charming cobbled streets lined with grand entrances and jolly doormen, Linda Morey-Burrows, founder and principal at MoreySmith, has five projects in the neighbourhood, all in walking distance. While practically a resident, she was fully prepared to make some drastic changes to the previously cramped office space with low suspended ceilings tiles and a warren of plasterboard cladding.

At first perplexed as to exactly how she could make a difference to the environment which lacked volume or height, Morey-Burrows came up with one bold solution and presented it singularly with confidence to the Dunhill team, headed up by Andrew Maag, CEO of Dunhill, who was closely involved at each stage. Compromise was not an option.

Morey-Burrows’ plan included structural changes that required planning permission, including the new statement staircase – a feature that has become requisite among any well-standing retail brands in design cities across the world – and a 180 sq m outdoor terrace that brought walls of floor-to-ceiling glazing and a new skylight with it. Both of these elements are seamless additions to the original building.

The outdoor terrace floats like a platform floating amongst Mayfair’s turreted spires, contemporary extensions, and secret balconies, extending the interior space and opening up a covetable spot for parties.

These ambitious changes created the volume and space Morey-Burrows had been searching for. Now the core of the office is flooded with light to create open-plan, collaborative meeting places, a central hub with two smart Stellar Works’ Ren tables in black ash for lunches and informal catch ups, and neat meeting rooms delineated by iron framed glazing. Carefully engineered pockets of double-height space allows for glimpses into different parts of the office – a pattern-cutting table strewn with cuts of fabric and tape measures can be seen below from the boardroom entrance above.

As well as a distinctly bespoke home, flexibility was top of the agenda for Dunhill, as the company is expanding with seven new outposts opening over the next year. Morey-Burrows finds that flexibility is the priority in the brief for most of MoreySmith’s workspace design clients who range from Sony Music to Argent.

Working with Dunhill was a delight for Morey-Burrows who found it refreshing to work with a client who really understood and cared about design. Her challenge was to embody the qualities of tradition and quality synonymous with the Dunhill brand, founded in 1893. It was through the details that she achieved this: the cricket ball stitching, crafted brass work tops, bespoke handles and patterned glazing that harness the masculine qualities of the British brand, combined with exposed concrete columns and steel balustrades of the staircase, that bring warmth and texture to the polished flooring by White & White, London.

In the fourth floor entry space black porcelain tiles are layered above horsehair upholstered walls, Stellar works Ren lounge chairs, McColin Bryan-Lens amber-topped coffee table and a custom leather reception desk – creating a very Dunhill welcome to clients and employees alike.

The office has dramatically changed how the team works, after previously working from two separate spaces for the office and showroom. Now united beneath one roof, the activities, creativity, aesthetics and energy are streamlined and the lucky 170 employees are all breathing the Dunhill brand through design.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the MoreySmith website and the Dunhill website

‘In just over a year we have succeeded in turning 1650 sq m of storage space into a modern, accessible and welcoming piece of architecture and an unparalleled retail experience,’ explains Johannes Torpe of his eponymous design studio's latest project.

The Danish designer, musician, producer, and former creative director of Bang & Olufsen was tasked with transforming a 1990s industrial building just north of Copenhagen into a retail experience and HQ for Danish cycling agency Argon 18. The new space – dubbed United Cycling Lab & Store – includes a 6m tall product gallery elegantly stacked with accessories and spare parts, a workshop, bike fit-out area, and a training facility. The vast development also houses office facilities, meeting rooms, a canteen, storage facility and an outdoor plaza, geared towards industry meet-ups.

Torpe compares the disparate (yet united) services offered by the United Cycling Lab to a religious institution. ‘All the functions of the facility can be transferred to those of a classic monastery,’ he explains. ‘The showroom is the chapel, the offices are the dorms, the canteen is the refectory, the product gallery is the library, the training facility is the choir and, the workshop is the forge.’

Perhaps this is an allusion to the dedicated, worship-like relationship Argon 18's biking community has to its sport – its client base is largely professional – but more likely, it references the grand scale, and imposing architecture of the space. One wall of the showroom is illuminated in a contemporary take on a stained-glass window, while five bike prototypes are suspended from the ceiling by pantographs that can be lowered (as if from heaven) at the click of a button for inspection. This is clinical sci-fi laboratory, meets ethereal cycling chapel.

A more obvious inspiration, Torpe's overarching design concept draws from the detailed engineering of a carbon fibre bicycle, more specifically, the future-seeking, man-meets-machine-in-perfect-harmony ideal that these frames embody. Argon 18's carbon fibre models are some of the lightest in the world, and they influenced Torpe to choose materials that exude lightness and have an airy yet industrial feeling to them – brushed concrete floors, bright white walls, pale woods, perforated steel.

Creating a sense of design continuity across the site, a grid motif appears throughout, in the graphic wall displays, the bike staging areas, and in the workshop shelving. This rigid grid system pays tribute to the precision of the products, and ensures a modular and scalable retail solution for a future global rollout.

‘It is Argon 18's goal to make the new HQ a place for cycling enthusiasts to cultivate their passion for the sport,' Torpe adds. ‘We have worked together with them to create an architectural concept that supports these objectives’. Through his design discipline, Torpe and his team have made it easy to join Copenhagen's cycling congregation.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the United Cycling Lab & Store website, and the Johannes Torpe Studio website

The rich, vibrant history of the Portuguese soap and fragrance company Claus Porto has been cast in a new light, with the opening of its first international boutique this week in New York City. Located on a charming street in Manhattan’s Nolita neighbourhood, Claus Porto’s new home fuses its beautifully designed past with a revelation of its present – a gesture aided by the store’s parametrically designed interior from Tacklebox Architecture.

Stretching across the length of the ground-floor space, Tacklebox’s principal Jeremy Barbour has created a 42 ft long archway made entirely from Portuguese cork, which visitors can step into and admire Claus Porto’s signature products. Etched with a repeating diamond motif (1,500 to be exact) that recalls the tiled façade of the historic Casa dos Bicos house in Lisbon, the dynamic cork structure also nods the architecture and intricate azulejo tile work of the São Bento train station in Porto, with its intricate texture and commanding form.

Within the structure, elegant alcoves and niches have been carved out for Claus Porto’s full collection, all displayed in minimal glory. From the nostalgic, decorative soaps that the label is probably best known for, to its recently launched perfume collections that were created by perfumer Lyn Harris, each facet of the 131-year-old company’s universe is made all the more unique by the array of artifacts and antiques from early on in its history that greet visitors as they walk in the door. Here, photographs of the company’s founder and its factory, examples of its original packaging and flaçons from the art deco era and even a certificate showing that Claus Porto attended and won the gold medal at the 1904 Universal Exhibition in St. Louis, show just how far the company’s creative roots go.

A lone monolithic washbasin, made from a single block of Estremoz marble stands at the centre of the archway – the only connective design thread that the American store has to its sibling store in Porto. With industrial, yet delicate suspended LED lighting (by Peter Bristol for Juniper) running like a spine overhead, this portal to Claus Porto’s cultural cache doesn’t just look backwards, but forwards to its future as well.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Claus Porto website

ADDRESS

230 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012, USA

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Just in time for the annual Christmas shopping season, Thomas Heatherwick’s brand new retail hub for Kings Cross, Coal Drops Yard, has opened its doors in the British capital. The central London district has seen plenty of changes in the past few years, rising from neglected inner city former-industrial neighbourhood to being hailed as a model for urban regeneration, and this latest addition is set to offer a welcome injection of a retail element to the existing commercial and residential blocks on site.

Heatherwick Studio is behind the complex’s striking design – and the twin set of sweeping roof structures that sit lightly upon the project's existing Victorian brick buildings, ‘kissing’ gently at the very top, creating the development’s visual shorthand. Clad in Welsh slate and placed lightly upon the original structure, this roof can even be taken down, if needed, without affecting the old building’s bones in the least, explains Heatherwick.

The architects carefully studied different models within the typology, from shopping malls to vernacular retail districts, such as traditional souks, in order to create the best possible design and overall layout for Coal Drops Yard. As a result, there is a big variety in retail units, each nestled within the site’s existing brick arches. Larger restaurants are joined by medium sized retailers and small, specialist workshops, all hosted under the same roof in creating a vibrant urban experience. ‘Flow is absolutely key in this type of project’, explains Heatherwick. ‘You want someone to almost unthinkingly move through the space, so finding the right shapes and connections was crucial.’

Argent, the Kings Cross site’s developer, paid special attention in selecting the right retailers for this new London destination; offerings include Paul Smith, MHL by Margaret Howell and Aesop, but also COS and Samsung, who now occupy the flagship post under the roof's peak. The most important element in the equation though, is us: ‘Coal Drops Yard is not about the product, even though this is of course important,’ says Craig White, senior project director for retail at Argent. ‘It is about the human experience and Thomas understands this and has done an outstanding job.’

Timelapse of the building of the roof

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Heatherwick Studio website

Fashion and architecture can cross-pollinate in unexpected ways – from designers that flit between the fields (Virgil Abloh is not the first architect to turn to fashion) to clothing collections that nod to an architectural inspiration, and interdisciplinary friendships and collaborations (such as that between Karl Lagerfeld and Zaha Hadid, see W*92, which spawned Chanel’s Mobile Art Pavilion). The close relationship between Seoul-based Korean fashion designer Lie Sangbong and local architecture practice Unsangdong is another case in point, and it has borne fruit in a striking new fashion HQ.

Unsangdong’s Jang Yoon Gyoo and Shin Chang Hoon first met Lie back in 2007, when he staged a fashion show at Kring, a cultural space the architects had recently designed in Seoul. ‘We felt we had a lot in common,’ recalls Shin. ‘Both we and Sangbong find inspiration in traditional Asian aesthetics and transform this into something contemporary. We also agree that there is no clear boundary between fashion and architecture.’

It was a relationship that blossomed, so when Lie decided to transform a commercial building in the heart of Seoul’s stylish Cheongdam district into his new base, he turned to Unsangdong for the conversion. ‘He wanted the building to reflect his unique style and to make a mark in the luxury fashion district, which is full of foreign brands,’ says Shin.

The architectural duo’s design proposal, a slim, tall tower with a sinuous, undulating façade, was inspired by a 15th-century Korean painting referencing an ‘ethereal utopia’. Lie immediately approved it. ‘Architecture and fashion have the same starting point because they both deal with the human body. Both evolved into more sophisticated spheres from the same goal of protecting and making the human body comfortable,’ says Jang, adding that both disciplines deal in form, structure and material, and the idea of creating or transforming an outer ‘skin’.

The dynamic curves of the building’s front elevation were its most challenging element. ‘We wanted to create the otherworldly feel of a cloud, to illustrate an ethereal utopia as seen in a dream,’ explains Jang. ‘To achieve this, we used vertical louvres as a base and developed subtle differences in their spacing.’ The architects spent close to a year perfecting and 3D-modelling the façade, creating a life-size mock-up and eight scale models in the process. The finished exterior is clad in waves of ceramic panels, chosen for their matt texture and durability.

The building’s base is dedicated to fashion and lifestyle. The entrance level hosts a café and a lifestyle shop that sells goods by emerging Korean artists. The first and second floors (which are connected through a separate circulation core) house the showroom of Lie, a popular fashion brand by Lie Sangbong’s son, and the Lie Sangbong showroom, respectively. The five floors above are set aside for office rental space, and the 9th through to the 13th floors feature apartments. The building’s top two levels feature a cultural space, which may be hired out for shows, performances and parties.

Juxtaposing the views of Seoul’s contemporary skyline through large openings with classical references to the Greek Agora within the building, the architects aimed to create an interior that would surprise and provoke conversation – seamlessly bringing together urban, social and sartorial elements in a single building, as befitting their client’s multidisciplinary outlook.

As originally featured in the September 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*234)

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Unsangdong website and the Lie Sangbong website

Palestinian architecture firm AAU Anastas, in collaboration with Laboratoire GSA ENSA Paris Malaquais, has completed the renovation and extension of a monastery shop in Jerusalem. Part of the 12th century St Mary of the Resurrection Abbey – one of Jerusalem’s most valuable examples of Crusaders' architecture, the structure blends architectural elements that the Crusaders brought from abroad, alongside local elements that they found in-situ, plus the contemporary twist of AAU Anastas' light-filled vision.

The young, well-decorated firm, founded in 2011 by architects Elias and Yousef Anastas, is ‘passionate about inserting local craft techniques’ to its work, a manifesto that lives and breathes in this project. Like most of the architecture of the monastery – including the church’s crypt – the soundness of the new structure relies on delicate stereotomy (the art and science of cutting three-dimensional solids into shapes). The columns of the new shop are made out of massive stone slabs, and the ceiling comprises 169 interlocking voussoirs (a tapered stone used to construct an arch). Using this innovative construction principle, which literally weaves stones together, AAU Anastas has created the first reinforced stone vault of its scale.

‘The extension of the shop – in such a heavy historical context – is above all an attempt to adapt existing construction principles to novel design and fabrication methods as well as a specific local stonemasonry know-how,’ the firm explains. ‘The flat stone vault echoes stone construction techniques, inherent to the monastery’s architectural history and to the crusader’s architecture in Palestine, in a contemporary way.’

Traditional craft techniques are topically celebrated inside the shop, too. As well as selling locally produced liquors (limoncello, liquor of walnut), the shop at St Mary of the Resurrection Abbey sells ceramic objects produced and hand-drawn by the monks and nuns, in the on-site ceramic production workshop and oven.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the AAU Anastas website

Can there be such a thing as fine-taste fatigue? Maybe it’s fourth estate problems, but if there is such a thing, Aesop might have become a victim to it, if it weren’t for shaking things up with their latest store opening in Rome.

Aesop and its visionary founder, Dennis Paphitis, wrote the manifesto for the anti-globalisation movement in retail and have led the way using promising and established architects and local vernaculars to embed the brand around the globe. Not only does it make every shop a local shop, it turns shopping into an experience, with the unique basin designs in every store, novel material use, inspirational interior architecture and considered refreshments. ‘We try to stay true to the aboriginal saying “touch the ground lightly”,’ says the Melbourne man at a dinner this week to launch the Rome store, an inspired collaboration with the celebrated film director, Luca Guadagnino.

‘Serendipity’ is the word that both Paphitis and Guadagnino use when explaining how this unusual partnership has come about. Paphitis, one of the most culturally fluent people you can meet, founded the skincare brand 30 years ago but sold it (in part, and then wholly) six years ago to Brazilian cosmetics company Natura.

Supposedly now in a backseat, his unabated, quietly dignified pursuit of cultural connections (something that made this week’s launch dinner at Rome’s Villa Medici a fascinating gathering of fashion designers, restaurateurs, architects, actors and art directors) led him to handwrite a note to Guadagnino, inviting him for a coffee, when he found they were sharing air in LA’s Chateau Marmont during awards season earlier this year.

Up to this point, Paphitis’ pursuit of Guadagnino had been silent, manifesting only in his obsessive playing and replaying of the director’s seminal 2009 film I am Love, and here was a moment to connect for real. Guadagnino, it turned out, was equally admiring of Paphitis and the architectural heights achieved with the Aesop brand, and what Paphitis didn’t know at the time, as of two years, Guadagnino was heading up a studio of interior architecture, pursuing his fantasy career alongside his lauded film career, and had already cut his teeth on the interior of his friend Federico Marchietti’s Lake Como house.

The pair soon found themselves on a train from Milan to Rome with Aesop’s in house architect Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi on their way to view a location in Rome’s Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucnina that had already been secured. A snowstorm blocked their way and a three hour journey turned into seven hours, which was seen as a good omen – ever since an unusually heavy snowfall over Milan greeted the film crew of I am Love, making for the stunning, eerie opening sequence, Guadagnino views snow as some kind of a lucky charm, while team Aesop knew that an unbroken rally of ideas and stories after hours on a train with a dwindling supply of food, water and wine could only be a good sign.

Paphitis showed Guadagnino a news clip about Maria Callas pulling out of a concert in Rome in 1958, and this became the rather odd launch pad of the store’s design. Somehow though, the pair were speaking the same language, and the film director understood that imbuing the store with an essence of its locale, taking, for example, material and design inspiration from the San Lorenzo in Lucina church interior and melding this with cultural, material and form prompts taken from the time of that clip, a time when Pasolini was making an impact on the screen, and Carlo Scarpa shaped interiors, was what was going to make a success of the Rome store design. ‘Everything was very organic from my first meeting with Dennis,’ says Guadagnino. ‘He is drawn by an idea of Rome that is not the usual. Rome relies on its vestiges in a lazy way and Dennis talked about a modernism that gave us an identity after the War. Our minds wandered through the canon of Pasolini and his aggressiveness of modernity.’

The harmonious mix of material is striking, along with the ease with which the store sits among the terracotta facades, the ecclesiastical architecture, the marble monuments of the area’s interiors and exteriors. The previously featureless space is now filled with floating shelves in red, cream and black lacquer that hold the product, the lacquer a nod to Pasolini’s signature spectacles. Blocks of straw in staggered relief form the ceiling, a detail drawn from Pasolini’s film Oedipus Rex, combined with the peasant culture of Agro Pontino in Rome’s immediate rural surroundings. The large curved glass pendant light, handmade in Murano, a one-off (since the back-up model broke) is a 1950s form that recalls the setting sun as seen from nearby Villa Medici.

The cream and mocha travertine floor tiles are inspired by the floor of nearby San Lorenzo in Lucina church, and the vast, monolithic counter and basins, formed from a patchwork of marbles, also taken from the church interior, have superb modernist curves and uncompromising mass. ‘I’m a newcomer to the job and mindless to what is problematic, I can’t understand why you can’t do something,' Guadagnino-the-film-director replies to a question about the complexity of combining marble in this way, simulaneously acknowledging the talent of his architect sidekicks, Giulio Ghirardi, Nicolo Barbisotti and Stefano Baisi. ‘I torture these guys.’ The taps are unapologetically Scarpa-inspired, and along with the mirror, the bench, the Murano glass vase that sits on the counter, all is custom-made for the store by Italian artisans, all bar one low-hanging monastic pendant light, by Peter Zumthor for Viabuzzuno.

How do Guadagnino’s two careers compare? ‘They couldn’t be more different. There is more discipline in the building of a physical space than the set of a movie. It just so happens that at the age of 45, I made my debut in interior design, inspired by my interaction with architecture.’ Jack of all trades he may be, but he’s mastering them all. His studio’s sequel will be another retail project in New York’s Soho, yet to be announced.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Aesop website

Eagle-eyed shoppers might have already noticed a sleek new minimalist box on the Selfridges block in the heart of London; David Chipperfield's new entrance scheme on Duke Street for the landmark department store has just been completed and opened to the public. 

The project, which started in 2014 and spans some 5,000 sq m, consists of the entire east wing on the ground level and was designed to not only unite Selfridges’ two historic buildings, but also create a brand new continuous floor plan for the store's new accessories hall. 

Combining old and new in a coherent, functional and aesthetically pleasing way is no mean feat; but it is an area in which Chipperfield excels. It's not that long ago that the celebrated London architect launched his design for the Royal Academy of Arts' expansion to wide acclaim, while projects such as the Neues Museum in Berlin were key in cementing his reputation in the field. More coveted commissions, such as the renovation of Mies van der Rohe's famous Neue Nationalgalerie in the German capital are currently in the works.

For the Selfridges project, the challenge involved bringing together the venue's original, grand, beaux-arts style building and its 1930s somewhat more sober art deco addition, through a contemporary element that is as discreet as it is fitting. Chipperfield's architectural slight of hand easily negotiates the different styles, offering much needed floorspace for retail, as well as clarity in circulation as a whole. 

‘Selfridges has a deep understanding of the architectural heritage and urban presence of the department store, as well as a clear vision for the future of luxury retail', says the architect. 'Our task was to unite these elements while stitching together various buildings along Duke Street. Externally, we have sought to reinforce the civic function of the store with a grand new entrance. Internally, we have established a sense of coherence between the brand concessions, and reasserted a hierarchy under the strong neo-classical architectural elements of the original building.’

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of David Chipperfield Architects

At the base of Centre Point in London, MICA has designed a new public square and retail space that celebrates the rich heritage and new future of the Grade II listed building. The architects paved over a road to make way for pedestrian friendly space on the busy New Oxford street junction also creating a new glass box for retail, opening up the original architecture at ground level for all to enjoy. MICA and photographer Andy Stagg documented the shell of the ground to second floor of the building, revealing the materials and redesign of the space before fit out.

While the blue neon light went out atop the Richard Seifert designed Centre Point sometime in the mid 2010s, it’s with surprisingly open arms that Londoners are welcoming the beacon back – albeit sans retro Tom Dixon designed rooftop bar. The 1960s building, listed in the 1990s, has been resuscitated by developer Almacantar which enlisted Conran and Partners to renovate and convert the whole tower, including designing 82 luxury residences. MICA was responsible for designing a fresh and open-minded public space and retail offering for the Centre Point Link and House, that also includes affordable housing designed by MICA.

The pivotal part of the new ground to second floor design was driven by the decision to pedestrianise a part of the road that ran through the Centre Point complex, to create a public square instead. Where the road used to flow beneath, MICA created a glass box that preserves and reveals the original structure, creating a totally new experience for pedestrians. The design somewhat solves New Oxford street’s overcrowded pavements and connects to the Tottenham Court road Crossrail entrance designed by Hawkins\Brown.

‘It was major surgery, but with lots of respect,’ says Gavin Miller, founding partner at MICA, of the design, which involved reworking circulations for the retail spaces to make sure they each had access to the new square, as well as adding new stairs and lifts. Mezzanine levels were removed to make the spaces ‘grander’ and ‘reveal the sculptural qualities of the building’.

Seen in the photographs of the shell – before Vapiano and Pret move in – material details of the original architecture were given new life: ‘Where we could, we restored and reinstated, but we also did our own new versions. Unique details like the unusual columns and tiling, timber handles and terrazzo stairs were inherited from the architectural language of the building,’ says Miller.

Miller recognised the non-brutalist qualities of the building, such as the use of marble and decorative concrete, and brought this richness to the palette of the public areas, combining timber with glass and adding a small grey tile patterned like brickwork to the external and internal areas of the building and square, opening up the design and bringing back Centre Point to the people.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the MICA website

Fort Worth is blessed with a wide range of cultural institutions by an enviable array of international architecture heavyweights. With Louis Khan's Kimbell Art Museum (including Renzo Piano's recent extension) and a modern art museum by Tadao Ando, the Texan city easily earns its spot within the world architecture map. The latest contemporary addition is a new photography hub on Montgomery Street, courtesy of local firm Ibañez Shaw Architecture. It sits just a stone's throw from the museum district and across the street from The Museum of Science and History by Legoretta +Legoretta.

Split into two wings that are set on different levels, the structure is a concrete complex comprising photography classrooms, studios, and a retail area. The strong geometry and clean lines are reflected in all areas of the building – with a distinctive pattern of round perforations adorning parts of the facade, and referencing, explain the architects, the ‘graphic proportionality of seven standard apertures that restrict how much light is allowed to enter the camera'. Extra care was taken when these were designed, so that openings are conically flared to ‘increase the visual transparency and graphic presentation', continues the team.

The structure's strong character continues inside, with the retail area featuring glass shelving, so as not to detract from the overall concrete feel. A spectrum of cameras is spread across the shelves, becoming a key ornamental focus for the room.

Still, the complex maintains a healthy level of playfulness. A yellow box unexpectedly protrudes from the concrete volume, containing the hub's children's area; while a umbrella-shaped photo-studio light illuminates the conference room near the upper level entry. Reflectors are used above the cashiers in the retail space, bouncing daylight and illuminating the interior in a true photographic fashion.

INFORMATION
For more information visit the Ibañez Shaw Architecture website

Filling Station Motel (FSM), Udine

A ‘garage concept store’ conceived and designed by design studio Visual Display has opened in the northeastern Italian city of Udine. The brand name takes inspiration from the original ‘Agip’ motels, which were built throughout Italy during the 1950s, as support services for large petrol stations. Now, midcentury modern furniture replaces gas pumps, and a pavement-esque concrete wine bar replaces pay-points past. Some elements remain, however, including a motorcycle workshop, that performs repairs and customisation projects in line with the FSM brand. The store stocks everything two-wheelers would love, including cycling ephemera, helmets and tools. Industrial-looking wire mesh divisions connect each distinct areas, leading guests from start line to finish.

Viale del Ledra 40, 33100, Udine, Italy

The Apartment, Copenhagen

Knock on a great, arched wooden door at the edge of one of Copenhagen’s many canals, weave through a blossom-scented, courtyard and head up a thin winding staircase. Entering The Apartment feels like going home, that is, if your home is filled with Kerstin Hörlin Holmquist armchairs pushed up against wall hangings by Barbro Nilsson for Märta Måås-Fjetterström. The space is curated with rare zest and ambition, with a focus on local designers and artists. Of particular note is the rotating exhibitions programme, which spotlights under-appreciated Danish talent. If you’re really lucky, local chef Frederik Bille-Brahe (of Noma fame) might be hanging out, ready to rustle you up a snack, as he was when we popped in during Copenhagen Fashion Week.

Overgaden Neden Vandet 33, 1414 Copenhagen, Denmark

Store X, Berlin, Germany

Adding to its London and Cotswolds locations, the Store X in Berlin first opened in February 2014, spanning two floors of the Soho House building in Mitte. It has since evolved into a lifestyle concept store with a creative edit of fashion, furniture, art, music, and books. Now Store X has launched the Studios, which will be home to a cultural programme showcasing works from contemporary artists, musicians and designers, with a focus on those with a commitment to innovation. The new exhibition space has debuted with the European premiere of Fly Paper, a dreamy film by acclaimed American filmmaker (and Beyoncé collaborator) Kahlil Joseph.

Torstraße 1, 10119 Berlin, Germany

Runway, Hanoi, Vietnam

Fabio Ferrillo – founder of Milan-based architecture studio OFF Arch – has undertaken a new challenge in Hanoi, Vietnam, with the realisation of Runway – officical Céline stockist in the region, among a plethora of other luxury labels. Design-wise, the driving idea was to create a space where the colours and shapes of Vietnamese vegetation could combine with the essential lines of the masters of fifties Italian design: Franco Albini, Osvaldo Borsani, Carlo Scarpa. Housed in The Central Building, a Côte d’Azur style canopy welcomes patrons into a light-flooded, pastel-toned store, complete with touches of northern Italy and the Riviera: Venetian terrazzo floor, and precious French herringbone parquet in natural oak.

31 Hai Ba Trung, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi

Bonds Hackney, London

A former carpentry-workroom in east London has been transformed into a rustic concept boutique, that beautifully dodges the all-too-common trope of shabby chic. Home to Niko Dafkos and Paul Firmin, Bonds Hackney was born out of the rapid demand for the duo’s scent-based candle brand, Earl of East London. The space has been respectfully fitted to make the most of bare bones of the building, flaunting exposed red brick walls and an aged wooden floor. Flexibility was key – the shop and adjoining studio are now used to house everything from candle making workshops to life-drawing classes. Bonds’ concept sore is proof that – in the right space – a specialist candle connoisseur can become a fully-formed lifestyle brand.

5A Gransden Avenue, London E8 3QA

The Webster, New York City

While many Americans typically head south for their winter sojourns, one Floridian ventured the other way. In November, The Webster – Laure Heriard Dubreuil’s well-heeled Miami fashion boutique – found itself a new 12,000 sq ft outpost in the heart of New York City. Situated within a cast-iron building dating back to 1878 that Heriard Dubreuil spent the last four years renovating, The Webster’s New York store is armed with an eclectic collection of designer fashion, and a distinctly Miami mix of art and design. Art deco-inspired terrazzo flooring echoes that of the original South Beach boutique, and vintage wallpapers from the 1920s and 30s line the elegant, apartment-like space. Admittedly, this is not your everyday homestead. In addition to Vladimir Kagan couches, and bright blue Pierre Paulin chairs originally designed for the Concorde lounge, the store is also home to several noteworthy artworks, including a candy-coloured wardrobe and lighting piece from Gaetano Pesce.

2508, 29 Greene St, New York, NY 10013, United States.

Zhongshuge, Yangzhou

The writing’s on the walls, ceiling and floors of a Yangzhou bookshop, where an optical illusion turns a 1000 sq m rectangular room into a cylindrical tunnel. Created by Shanghai-based studio XL-Muse for book retailers Zhongshuge, a black mirrored floor paired with two walls of arched shelving helps to create a seemingly never-ending funnel of books. The design is inspired by the rich heritage of Yangzhou, said to be a historical gathering place for the literati. Lead designer Li Xiang took inspiration from a verse in the classic Chinese romance novel A Dream of Red Mansions, by Cao Xueqin, which is thought to refer to the area in which the shop now stands. (‘Spring flower and autumn moon, green hills and clear water; 24 bridges, relics of the Six Dynasties,’ it reads.) The arched shelving represents the ‘24 bridges’ in Xueqin’s verse, and a swerving line in the ceiling represents the ‘clear water’ or river. Visitors are supposed to flow along it, deeper into the bookshop and, says Xiang, ‘into the vast ocean of knowledge’.

Here are our favourite high concept retail spaces, from New York to Yangzhou...

Browns East, London

In May 2015, when online fashion retail platform Farfetch acquired Browns – the cult boutique on London’s South Molton Street – it laid out some ambitious plans for the 47-year-old retailer. The Farfetch vision included creating ‘the retail experience of the future’ that it promised would be a ‘pioneering mix of technology and in-store experience’. Two years later, the first major step to build an omnichannel retail operation, named Store of the Future, has been taken in the form of Browns East – a two-storey concept store housed in a former print factory in London’s Shoreditch. A highlight of the space is the (buzzword alert) immersive experience room, and the gallery of evolving and affordable artwork (pictured).

Browns East, 21 Club Row, London, E2 7EY

Nous, Paris

The news of stalwart Parisien retail destination Colette closing in December 2017 sent ripples of fear and disappointment waving far beyond the fashion industry. There’s hope, however. The demise of the cult department store has coincided with an upswing in popularity for the indie boutique. That’s why Sébastien Chapelle, head of the watches and tech department at Colette for 14 years, decided to open a new, smaller-scale Paris boutique, with the same flavour as Colette, but a more concise brief. Nous is located a stones throw from Colette’s former location. While Colette had a major focus on women’s fashion, Nous takes a more menswear, lifestyle-first approach and carries almost everything, think sunglasses, tech, books, streetwear – and even skateboard decks.

48 Rue Cambon, 75001 Paris, France

Aesop, Düsseldorf

Designed by longtime collaborator Snøhetta, Aesop’s Düsseldorf store is one of the design-centric brand’s most conceptual. Created to feel like an implicit extension of the plaza outside, a monolithic concrete sink, reminiscent of Düsseldorf’s local fountains, has been centrally located in order for customers to test products, amplifying the blur between outside and in (echoed again in the ‘all natural’ Aesop tagline). A minimal marvel, its intended to feel like a spa, with low-key down-lighting and a refreshing ice-toned colour palate throughout. 

12 Dusseldorf, Kasernenstraße 10, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany

Casa Cavia, Buenos Aires

Since it opened in 2014 in a leafy Buenos Aires neighbourhood, Casa Cavia has carved out quite a name for itself, drawing an appreciative crowd to its high-ceilinged warren of rooms that are variously staged as restaurant, publishing house, bookstore, florist and perfumery. In 2017, perhaps as a recognition of the economic realities of running a truly conceptual space, owner Guadalupe García Mosqueda has upped the food and beverage offerings. Now, thanks to Kallos Turin Architects, the F&B spaces including a larger, bright kitchen, and a courtyard bar framed by the existing square pool, an emerald green living wall (pictured).

Casa Cavia 2985, Palermo Chico, Buenos Aires

Gentle Monster, Los Angeles

Cult Korean eyewear Gentle Monster opened its second US flagship in Los Angeles last year. The 5,000 sq ft store ‘leads visitors on a journey through the stages of harvest’ by way of moving installations, surreal sculptures (pictured) and handcrafted objects. There’s a gently undulating ‘rice field’ comprising 2,000 metallic rods, while rugs by Korean knitting designer Misu A Barbe bring a softness to the polished space. Eyewear is displayed on marble and metal shelving which take their cues from the blades of crop tractors.

Gentle Monster, 816 S Broadway, Los Angeles CA 90014

Sharjah's creative community has a new destination for work and play – Al Rawi, a restaurant and bookstore designed by Pallavi Dean Interiors. The uplifting, informal spot is pitched at professionals, booklovers and designers – and their children, who have space to play and be inspired too.

Tetra, the private management company that commissioned Al Rawi, wanted the design to go above and beyond what you might expect from a bookstore. The brief envisioned a multitasking space that could reflect Sharjah’s literary heritage – celebrated at the Sharjah International Book Fair which began in 1982 – and become a contemporary hub for the Emirate’s creative community, with a cafe, restaurant, events space and creative zone for children.

Inspired by the name ‘Al Rawi' which means ‘the one who tells stories', Pallavi Dean designed an interior inspired by books and our relationship with them: ‘The design is full of literary inspiration, but in a subtle and abstract way – the woven texture of the handrails and space dividers, for example, is based on the stitching that binds books. It’s those kind of playful literary references that we think gives Al Rawi its personality and character.'

Instead of walls, flexible book shelving creates a division for the space which can be moved and adpated to suit different types of activity. There's a colourful backdrop for every type of activity, whether you're reading a book, checking emails, meeting creative clients for lunch or hosting a launch or evening talk. Retail pods on castors display books, stationery and book-related merchandise and custom sculptures and light mobiles inspired by books and words hang above. The stitch detail from a bound book spine is threaded through the whole design in a tactile rubber material – on a large scale as space dividers, or intimately across the handrail.

Overlooking the Khalid Lagoon, the Al Majaz fountain, Noor island and the corniche, Al Rawi has a glazed facade and an open terrace for guests. The ‘grab and go' bar is visible to pedestrians walking down the Al Majaz Waterfront promenade so people can swing by for a morning coffee or breakfast. The bar is also a retail space, ready for visitors to feed their brains with a book or a magazine.

Based in the Dubai Design District, Pallavi Dean Interiors was founded by Dean in 2013. Al Rawi is the team's third project in Sharjah, following the Shababeek Lebanese restaurant and Sheera Entreprneurship Center at the American University of Sharjah.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Pallavi Dean Interiors website

ADDRESS

Al Rawi
Al Majaz Waterfront
Sharjah
UAE

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