Barber and Osgerby‘s architecture arm has designed two pop-up shops for the launch of Seek No Further, a new label from sportswear manufacturer Fruit of the Loom (+ slideshow).
Berlin store. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
Universal Design Studio has transformed a small gallery space on Redchurch Street in London and another space in Berlin’s Mitte district.
Berlin store. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
In London, the studio was faced with an unusual long and narrow 21 square metre space. An illusion of double depth was created with a mirrored back wall.
Berlin store. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
A single 6.5-metre-long rail suspended from the ceiling showcases the Seek No Further capsule collection created by Dorothée Loermann, former creative director of womenswear for Parisian fashion label Surface to Air.
Berlin store. Installation by Sarah Illenberger. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
In Berlin, the original 60-square-metre gallery space has been retained as a raw backdrop for a series of geometric shapes and plinths, some coated in soft pink silicone or royal blue flock as well as display blocks of yellow cast glass wax. These objects can be rearranged to transform the space for various events that will take place in the store.
Berlin store. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
“The brief from Dorothée Loermann was to create an effortless and fun environment with a particular focus on a tactile experience,” said Alexey Kostikov, senior designer at Universal Design Studio.
Berlin store. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
“Dorothée challenged us to put together an unconventional material palette using the materials that are not typically associated with retail interiors. We approached a small local mould-making workshop and went through a series of experiments with various materials and techniques. The design development evolved around those experiments.”
Berlin store. Photograph by Ragnar Schmuck
Both of the pop up stores will be open for four months.
London store. Photograph by Michael Bodiam
Here’s some information from the designers:
The Stores – Berlin and London
The capsule collection will be available at the Seek No Further pop-up stores in London and Berlin from March 2014.
London store. Window installation by Gary Card. Photograph by Michael Bodiam
Universal Design Studio has transformed a gallery space in London’s Shoreditch and Berlin’s Mitte district into two pop-up stores for the launch of Seek No Further. With an emphasis on the process of making and reflecting the brand’s innovative approach to materiality and detail, the stores’ key message is simplicity.
London store. Photograph by Michael Bodiam
Collaborating with artisans and art technicians, Universal have experimented with unconventional materials like glass wax, flock coating, cast concrete and silicone to create the handcrafted sculptural display pieces. In London, the capsule collection is displayed on a single 6,5m long rail suspended from the ceiling, set against the raw concrete wall.The long and narrow space of the gallery is further emphasised by the mirror-clad back wall, creating an illusion of double-depth.
London store. Photograph by Michael Bodiam
In Berlin, set within the raw shell of the gallery, solid, bold geometric shapes form a varied landscape. In both stores, an understated monochrome palette is juxtaposed with royal blue flock coating, translucent yellow display blocks of cast glass wax and sculptural objects coated in soft pink silicone.
Turntables and Tokyobikes will be available to hire at the latest addition to the Ace Hotel chain, designed by London practice Universal Design Studio and opening later this month in Shoreditch.
Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby’s Universal Design Studio designed the interior and exterior of the 258-room hotel on Shoreditch High Street, behind a new facade designed by the team.
Dark engineering brick will clad the ground floor, with lighter rendering on the upper storeys.
“Both exterior and interior design focus on traditional craftsmanship, embedding the space within the historic context and material heritage of Shoreditch,” said Universal Design Studio director Jason Holley.
A large glass-walled event space on top will have panoramic views of London and the basement will feature a bar and performance space. The hotel will also contain a flower shop, brasserie, takeaway juice bar and cafe.
Cork ceilings fitted with custom copper light fixtures and timber parquet flooring are to be installed in communal areas on the ground floor.
Original work by local artists will adorn walls of the minimal bedrooms, in some of which guests can request to have Martin guitars and Rega RP1 turntables. Guests will also be able to hire bicycles to explore the city from local shop Tokyobike.
Monochrome tiles will line the bathrooms, which will feature mirror-faced bathtubs and lights designed for outside.
Ace Hotel worked with London-based architecture and interior design firm Universal Design Studio to design exteriors and interiors, including 258 guest rooms, an 1,800 square foot seventh floor event space, a 2,700 square foot restaurant, Hoi Polloi, and a 3,900 square foot lounge and reception area comprised of retail units, a bar, café and art gallery. Our approach was to tune in to the authentic voice of Shoreditch, to engage local artists, craftspersons and builders to foster a sense of place at home with its surroundings, a place that is, according to Ace co-founder Alex Calderwood, “of London and for London.”
Known for their distinctive design aesthetic, recognisable for its simplicity and clever use of material details, and a bespoke approach to each client, Universal Design Studio was a natural choice to help translate the Ace ethos into a London vernacular. Both exterior and interior design focus on traditional craftsmanship, embedding the space within the historic context and material heritage of Shoreditch. Material choices are informed by East London’s longstanding role as a centre for the performing arts, as well as a historic home to skilled trades like shoemaking, furniture making, rope making, ship building and silk weaving.
External rendering by Forbes Massie
Façade & Exterior Details
Immediately facing a conservation area, the area surrounding Ace Hotel London Shoreditch has a rich architectural history, composed of a tightly knit grain of warehouses, shops, residential and industrial buildings. The intent of the façade is to mesh with the urban fabric around us. Contemporary takes on traditional material cues use expressive brickwork, infill and pattern to reanimate the street level of the building, bringing activity to the front and breaking the façade into a number of independent units and uses. Dark ‘engineering brick’, often found in traditional utilitarian buildings is used to ground the base in local tradition. A rich mixture of textural changes — brick bonds and receded bricks alongside glazed and unglazed patterning — create a series of distinct identities across the span of the façade. In reference to local metalwork traditions, Crittall windows, doors and industrial elements like grids, cast bronze, galvanised steel and waxed finishes add to the authentically local character.
Public Areas
Communal areas at Ace Hotel London Shoreditch include the ground floor lobby, a communal table, café, lobby bar and gallery space. The lobby is envisioned as a hub for interaction for hotel guests as well as the surrounding community, and continues the real-Shoreditch tone set by the exterior, with common local materials like brick, metalwork and Crittall glazing. A series of room-like zones are created through furniture arrangements and a series of full-height Crittall glass and steel screens, inviting the language of articulated shop fronts, that begins with the façade, indoors. A cork ceiling fitted with custom copper light fixtures and timber parquet flooring steeps the setting in the local visual culture.
A rich theatrical history is reflected in moments throughout the communal spaces as well, like a custom theatre-style light grid installed in the external entrance foyer. Ace Hotel London Shoreditch sits on the original site of the Shoreditch Empire, later the London Music Hall. The Empire, designed by prolific theatrical architect Frank Matcham, opened in 1856 and played host to stars like Charlie Chaplin.
In the lobby bar area, a lighter colour of brick, articulated brick patterns, and a skylight that draws natural daylight lend to the uniqueness of the space. Artist Max Lamb was commissioned to design the bar cladding, bar stools and cocktail tables. A long, sixteen-seat communal work table by Benchmark in the lobby is a bespoke piece made of cast iron, oak and copper which can be used as an informal meeting or work space.
The café features a range of rich finishes including handmade tiles and patterned timber floors. The gallery space will rotate artist exhibitions and we’re collaborating with local artists on details throughout the lobby.
External rendering by Forbes Massie
Restaurant Concept
At Hoi Polloi, Universal and Atelier Ace worked with the Hoi Polloi team to create an English modernist brasserie inspired by mid-twentieth century European bistros. Stepping in from bustling Shoreditch High Street, Hattie Fox’s That Flower Shop is a floral interlude before discovering the restaurant. On entering Hoi Polloi, guests encounter an informal bar area made up of a series of banquette booths. The high-ceilinged space accommodates a variety of paces — fast-moving and leisurely. Moving into the main dining space, soft banquette seating creates a range of areas focused around a central seating section. A sense of spontaneity fosters the feeling of ‘an occasion,’ somewhere for everyday, yet special every time. It’s a dynamic space, as ideal for daytimes spent working on a laptop as it is for evening drinks or supper.
Design details include a complex palette of materials like fluted timber-paneled walls with horizontally mirrored panels to create further depth. The bar is wrapped with natural stone while banquettes are finished in leather. Flecked linoleum tabletops contrast with stone surfaces, while Douglas Fir-paneled banquettes standout against warm Iroko timber wall panels. Hexagonal timber flooring in the bar area shifts to encaustic ceramic tiles in the dining room. Polished brass light fixtures sit on low walls behind banquette seating and custom pendant lights by Philippe Malouin light the main dining space. Ercol Love Seats and classic Butterfly chairs echo classic British dining rooms.
Guest Rooms
The approach to the guest rooms was to think of them as a friend’s Shoreditch apartment, a collection of furniture and objects acquired over time, each with stories and memories attached. Each guest finds a curated shelf with a distinct identity and experience of place — useful crafted elements (maps, sketch pads) from local makers, records, books, a pin-up cork board and found curiosities. This magnetic shelf by T Nevill & Co. can be changed or added to by guests during their visit.
A utilitarian colour palette on the walls of the rooms creates a modest shell, a low-key canvas for simple but considered bespoke elements like folding metal display shelving, matte-finish oak bed platforms and expansive daybeds with reverse-denim upholstery. The full-width daybed encourages social interaction and a round table replaces the standard hotel room desk with something more domestic and multi-functional. The mixture of matte-finish solid white European oak, black powder- coated metal and fabrics add texture in consonance with the cool, pared-back approach throughout, to allow for curated objects to stand out.
Custom tile patterns, mirror-faced bathtubs and ‘exterior’ light fittings in bathrooms are complementary patterns against a monochrome palette.
Lovage
Lovage is a seasonal farm-to-street elixir and treat stand rooted in the essentials of British folk medicine and based on the idea that wellness comes from nature. The menu content will change seasonally and the interior walls will transition accordingly from white washed spruce to dark, charred cedar panels. The reversible panels are hung from raw breeze block walls with blackened steel barnyard ironmongery, a material gesture inspired by unfussy, rural Japanese kitchens and traditional village apothecaries.
Other notes include cast bronze light fixtures and a Noren curtain made of vintage boro fabric, contrasted with stainless steel work surfaces and a floor made of black hexagonal encaustic tiles. Signage and graphics are screen-printed on plywood. The warm, earthen atmosphere, set against a clean, utilitarian space complements the objective of providing natural, holistic sustenance in the midst of travel and work.
London Design Festival: the first project by MAP, the new studio of designers BarberOsgerby, is a digital laboratory at London’s Science Museum where visitors can interact with internet-users around the world using musical instruments and robots (+ slideshow).
Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby have founded MAP as an industrial design consultancy that will operate alongside their interior design company Universal Design Studio and their design studio BarberOsgerby.
The Google Web Lab was designed in collaboration with Universal Design Studio and comprises a series of physical devices that can either be operated in person at the museum, or online at chromeweblab.com.
“Web Lab offers the opportunity for visitors to be more than just spectators,” Universal Design Studio director Jason Holley told Dezeen. “Online and in-museum visitors are equally able to enjoy a dialogue with the museum; engaging, interacting and affecting the exhibition content.”
One device is a electronically-controlled orchestra (above), where different instruments are controlled by different users, while another is a data tracer that maps the sources of images and information and shows where they’ve travelled to (below).
The Sketchbots (below) are robots that photograph the faces of users and draws them on a plate of sand.
Above: photograph is by Andrew Brennan
Other devices include a virtual teleporter (below), which functions as a set of windows to locations around the world, and a computer that charts the locations of everyone who has taken part in the experiments.
“Museums worldwide struggle with trying to understand how the digital can expand their reach to engage a wider and more diverse audience,” said Holley. “Web Lab offers the possibility of making the online experience integral, not secondary. It offers new opportunities for richer experiences online and physical spaces that expand beyond the walls of the museum”
Cameras are positioned around the exhibition, so users can continue to operate the devices when the museum is closed.
The project was also completed with interactive design and engineering group Tellart and graphic designers Bibliothéque.
Photography is by Lee Mawdsley, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s a lengthier description from Universal Design Studio and MAP:
Universal Design Studio and MAP collaborate with Google on exhibition that merges physical and virtual
Universal Design Studio and sister company MAP are responsible for the 3D design and architecture of a dramatic new Google exhibition. Web Lab brings the extraordinary workings of the Internet to life through a series of interactive, web-connected physical experiments, aiming to inspire the world about the Web’s possibilities and to explain its complex technological processes. Exhibition visitors can make music with people across the world and trace the physical route taken by a simple web search. The exhibition at London’s Science Museum is open to the world online at chromeweblab.com, with online visitors experiencing the exhibition day and night through 24-hour web cams installed at the museum.
Above: photograph is by Andrew Brennan
Partnering with interactive design and engineering group Tellart, Universal Design Studio and MAP together designed the exhibition environment, creating innovative architectural and design archetypes for this new kind of physical/ digital collaboration. The design approach focuses equally on the experience of the space physically and the experience of it online via web cams. Architecture and design tools help to deconstruct technology and tell the story of how digital and physical realms are connected. New archetypes were created to separate users from their familiarity with objects, reinforcing the experimental nature of the exhibition, and to ensure each experiment could be appreciated both in the museum and online.
Universal Design Studio and MAP have created an immersive lab setting in the basement of the Science Museum, a scheme that foregrounds the idea of Web Lab as an interactive place of testing and continuous experimentation.
An industrial, functional aesthetic forms the backdrop to the series of playful experiments. At the exhibition’s entrance, a centrally positioned glass and wire mesh workshop provides a highly visible ‘curated lab’ space for events, simple repairs and displays. A key feature conceptually, it represents the ‘living lab’ nature of the exhibition, where visitors are not spectators but are engaged in and part of a working space.
Above: photograph is by Andrew Brennan
Universal Design Studio and MAP were challenged to design a space that would be experienced both physically and online through ‘the eyes of the web’. In order for online visitors to easily interpret the space, architectural planes are clearly and directly articulated. The ground plane maps out the territory as a graphic surface. Bibliothèque created graphics for the rubber floor which, as well as providing an additional narrative layer to the exhibition, creates zoning and flow of movement, and adds a supportive description of each experiment’s function.
The ceiling plane consists of a bright yellow steel grid delivering the network of cables that service the experiments. Rather than be concealed, the grid articulates the physicality of the web, illustrating its data flow – the ‘life source’ of the experiments. Throughout the exhibition, cabling to experiments is intentionally exposed, emphasising this physicality.
A secondary skin of semi-transparent wire mesh lines the walls of the museum gallery, blurring the distinction between the existing building and the new installation. The space is acoustically controlled creating an optimal environment for the Universal Orchestra experiment, which provides the soundtrack to the exhibition experience.
Above: photograph is by Andrew Brennan
Working with Tellart (who prototyped the experiments) and Universal Design Studio, MAP oversaw the industrial design, look and feel of the exhibition’s five Chrome Experiments:
Universal Orchestra: An Internet-powered eight-piece robotic orchestra creating harmonious music Sketchbots: Custom-built robots able to take photographs and then sketch them in sand Data Tracer: A map that traces where the world’s online information is physically stored Teleporter: A series of web-enabled periscopes through which you can instantly access the world (including a 24 hour US bakery) Lab Tag Explorer: A real-time visualisation of all Web Lab visitors from around the world that groups and categorises participants in incredible ways
UNIVERSAL DESIGN STUDIO COMPLETES NEW MULBERRY STORE IN MANCHESTER.
Universal Design Studio has completed work on the new Mulberry flagship store for the north of England in Manchester. The Manchester store is the latest in an ongoing collaboration between Mulberry and Universal Design Studio, who recently unveiled the new Mulberry London flagship store on New Bond Street to critical acclaim. Mulberry will be rolling-out this new concept created by Universal which is based on elements of craft as well as ecological concerns and Mulberry’s origins in the English landscape.
Hannah Carter Owers, associate director at Universal Design Studio comments: “Our brief from Mulberry has provided an amazing freedom of creativity. We have collaborated to create an interior concept that both reflects Mulberry’s brand values, but also one which challenges the norms of luxury retail design.”
The new store design plays on the idea of two separate ‘zones,’ the ‘Garden’ and the ‘Drawing Room.’ The concept aims to create an environment with a distinct change in pace for visitors, as well as a flexible space for Mulberry to display different collections, both classic and fashion-led. “The Manchester store was actually where the Garden and Drawing Room concept originated, so we are really exciting to see it come to life,” says Carter Owers.
The Garden allows for incredibly flexible display. A bespoke tiled wall acts as a display fixture thanks to wall-mounted glass ‘tanks,’ ready-to-wear rail and removable timber prongs. The wall, made up of unglazed porcelain tiles of varying thickness/angles, also provides a striking textured backdrop to the store. The floor within the Garden is sandblasted limestone with a fumigated, end grain oak centre. The concept for the Drawing Room juxtaposes the natural feeling of the Garden with a statement, polished brass cash desk and stainless steel clad column. A family of dark oak perimeter units has been designed to house specific collections of product and the shelving has unfinished Mulberry leather inserts. A Rachel Whiteread daybed and Barber Osgerby Zero-In table sit on bespoke carpet just outside the luxurious, large-scale fitting rooms.
Georgia Fendley, Brand Director for Mulberry says: “We began work on the Manchester store some time ago, in fact it was the first store we planned with Universal and it was where the more domestic approach to a luxury retail space originated. The objective was to create a really practical and flexible space with a distinct change of pace for shoppers and an aesthetic more in tune with the Mulberry brand personality, reflecting our authenticity, attention to detail, energy and playfulness and of course our passion for great British craft.”
The following details are from Universal Design Studio:
Mulberry unveils new store and design concept for its London flagship location
In December 2010 Mulberry will be moving its flagship boutique from its current location at 41-42 New Bond Street, London to a few doors away at number 50. The move is another manifestation of Mulberry’s overall success, evidenced by the company’s mid-term announcement that sales have jumped 79 percent across UK stores compared to last year as well as the recent launch of their app for iPhone and iPad. The opening of the 50 Bond Street store will seal Mulberry’s standing as a luxury fashion brand with a unique emphasis on desirable and responsible creative British output.
The new store design is the result of Mulberry’s two year collaboration with Universal Design Studio. It is an innovative, thoroughly modern, dynamic retail environment that reflects the brand’s aesthetic, its commitment to craft, ecological and ethical concerns, and its ties to the English landscape. According to Georgia Fendley, Brand Director, Mulberry; ‘We are immensely proud of our British heritage and our reputation for craftsmanship; we wanted to facilitate the translation of these quintessential elements of our brand into our retail interiors.
Rather than a pastiche of the craft used to create our products we have sought out the best of British craft for each material and function and let the quality and authenticity speak for itself. The teams have delivered an astounding result given the almost impossible brief we set – beautiful, totally Mulberry, authentic, responsible, flexible and innovative. They have wrestled with the sometimes conflicting agendas of aesthetics and ethics and their passion and commitment are evident in the attention to detail achieved. Unlike many slick ‘shop-fitted’ environments our new Bond Street flagship is designed to last and to develop a patina over time, like nearly all of the best things in life it will get better and better with use!’
The new design will provide an open and informal layout over 5,400 feet of retail space set on one level, where customers will be encouraged to meander through the sections at their leisure. To maximise the ability to reflect the change in pace of retail life the majority of fixtures are freestanding and fully flexible, allowing for the manipulation and reconfiguration of the internal architecture.
The finished store will reflect many features of a modern art gallery; juxtaposing informal, open spaces and daylight-simulating, energy-conserving light boxes. The vast open space and raw concrete ‘warehouse’ style floor will be a visual canvas for the refined, bespoke features such as handmade irregular tiles and the textural contrasts between crafted oak, smooth brass and white lacquered surfaces.
Different materials are contrasted in all aspects of the interior makeup, for example the brass tablets designed by Jonathan Ellery set into the floor, or in the service area where an 8.7 metre polished brass cash desk is contrasted with the gloss-lacquered panels behind that are designed to reflect light into the narrowest area of the store. There are also sculptured oak timber and textured brass ‘follies’ that break up the store space and offer an intimate shopping environment within the open-plan floor layout.
The environmental concerns of such a large space have been addressed as an integral part of the design brief. Mulberry has been working closely with Max Fordham, consulting engineers who implemented energy efficient concepts into the new store design. As well as the construction and design process there are measures in place for ongoing energy monitoring, designed to create an environmentally aware retail space and working atmosphere.
A key feature supporting energy conservation is an undulating stone wall forming the backbone of the store, created using the traditionally British craft of dry stone walling. The wall is an ingenious part of the mechanics of the store, retaining heat in the winter and cooling the air in the summer. Equally inspired is the adaptation of a simple Roman idea; polished brass back plates behind lamps in one of the follies reflect light back into the space, maximising the efficiency of the fittings.
Universal Design Studio is expecting the store to receive a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ which is very unusual in retail constructions and space. The new Mulberry Bond Street store will be the first flagship to feature this new concept, with several international stores currently under construction. By subtly contrasting the traditional with the modern, customers will be given the chance to immerse themselves in a new retail environment, maximising their enjoyment of the product and appreciation of the space around them.
Mulberry has also created a micro-site, www.fiftynewbondsteet.com, to house exclusive content regarding the project. There are interviews with those involved with the store’s construction, and a time-lapse film showing how it came together, as well as various images of the interior and individual design concepts. Information is being added regularly to build a rich depiction of this dynamic new store and the myriad of components and people involved.
The following text is from Universal Design Studio:
H&M, Seoul, Korea
Building on the continuing success of their work for international fashion brand, H&M, Universal Design Studio has now designed the exterior façade for the Korean flagship store in Seoul. This, the tenth site for H&M, is based on the distinctive modular design of other locations such as the H&M store in LA.
Universal Design Studio has accentuated the three-dimensional appearance of the facade by using small and large-scale perforations to produce tonal contrast and visual depth to the pleated cladding. The façade comes alive at night when concealed illumination turns the store into a dramatically lit beacon. The three-storey-high sculptural relief creates an effect that softens the hard, dominant lines of the existing building structure.
Internally, the design also includes a concept staircase created from a ‘ribbon’ of white glass. This forms the internal balustrade, and an articulated shroud of tightly stacked vertical louvers form the external walls.
Universal Design Studio’s rolling project with H&M is an example of their ability to tailor solutions to individual sites whilst still creating engaging spaces and brand continuity. The original brief was to create an iconic façade concept that could be used to brand the first Asian H&M flagship stores but the design has proved so successful that it is now used as H&M’s global identity and will be applied to stores all over the world.
Now established as two of the leading names in British design, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby set-up BarberOsgerby together in 1996 and Universal Design Studio in 2001.
Universal Design Studio is a multi-disciplinary team of architects, interior designers and industrial designers specialising in the creation of unique built environments. The studio takes a consistent, holistic approach to spatial design and interior architecture and offers a profound understanding and interpretation of the full range of creative possibilities.
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