Hasta La Ideas

Concave walls at the centre of this Hong Kong boutique hide a stockroom and fitting rooms.

This free-standing core was designed so as not to block the two long glazed walls, which admit an unusual amount of natural light for a shopping centre unit.

Japanese designer Koichi Futatsumata of Case-Real designed the interior for clothing brand Joyce.

Photographs are by Daisuke Shimokawa of Nacasa & Partners.

Here are some more details from the architects:

A shop design for Joyce, an established Hong Kong boutique with a 40-year history. The site, a corner plot located within The Lee Gardens, a luxury shopping mall in the central area Causeway Bay, is V-ish in shape, with walls of windows on two sides and an area measuring roughly 100 square meters. Even in Japan, it would be rare to get such natural light in adjoining boutique, and we sought to create a bright, open space in this location. To do so, it was imperative that the windows not be obscured by the placement of the boutique’s commercial facilities, such as fitting rooms, stock and staff rooms, and the like. We devised a method of assembling those facilities and forming a core in the center of the space.

At the same time, Hong Kong gives one the impression of being is a place where all sorts of things from all over the world are brought together, forming a complex mix of urbanity. It is a space naturally crafted as aggregate of the natural environment, man-made elements such as buildings and roads, and the thinking of many different types of people. We felt an attraction to that which is as diverse as Hong Kong’s unintentionally formed urban space. Thus, the unintentional contour of the space was kept with a simple reduction in building volume. Just as Hong Kong is as a city, the inevitable volume produced by the location given here was a core, a ‘microcosm’.

From this, three major advantages are born: 1) an unbroken flow of movement is secured; 2) it becomes a brighter space with no lighting interference, and 3) the multiplicity of expression within the lines of the walls bring out movement in the space. The form of this ‘microcosm’ holds a sculptural interest as well.

It could be said that, in a way, this unique space was borne of the unintentionality of Hong Kong as a city, rather than something that we produced.

Project Name : JOYCE – THE LEE GARDENS

Design: Koichi Futatsumata/CASE-REAL
Lighting Plan: USHIOSPAX FUKUOKA
Cooperation of construction: SOGO DESIGN HONG KONG
Construction: blueprint design engineering Ltd

Location: Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Type of Project: Interior Design
Period: May 2011 – Oct 2011
Floor area: 353.9㎡
Art Works: Ryo Matsuoka
Client: JOYCE BOUTIQUE HOLDINGS LIMITED

The translucent back wall of this pop-up headphone shop changes colour in response to the noise made by Christmas shoppers.

Urbanears have launched their first pop-up shop at Box Park, a temporary shopping centre where retail units are housed in shipping containers.

The monochromatic background and limited material palette of the 40ft unit focuses visitors on the colourful headphones that Urbanears specialise in.

Silicon moulded ears attached to the wall display the in-ear headphones while over-ear headphones hang from hooks.

Boxpark is open for the Christmas period in Shoreditch, east London.

Read more about headphones by Urbanears in our story here.

Here’s some more text from Urbanears and 42 Architects:

URBANEARS BOXPARK by 42 ARCHITECTS

Urbanears has opened their first ever store, located at Boxpark in Shoreditch, London, and designed by emerging practice 42 architects. The store, fitted out within a 40ft ship- ping container, focuses on the contrast between the highly colourful products and a monochromatic, white interior.

Designed as the main feature of the shop, the inner wall of is made of a back-lit perspex frame, illuminated by an RGB Led light which responds to the sounds in the shop and shifts between the seasonal colour palettes of the Urbanears headphones. At night, the shop becomes a colourful beacon for the party-goers and visitors of Shoreditch and Brick Lane.

The shop consists of a limited palette of materials. The walls are made of precision-cut Hanex sheets, chosen for its homogenous and smooth appearance. Combined with an epoxy surfaced floor and a white ceiling that hides all services, the shop works as a de- liberately non-textural backdrop for the products on display.

Bespoke and quirky product fittings adds a sense of playfulness to the space; the Medis in-ear headphones are fitted in silicon molded ears, embedded in the Hanex walls, and the Bagis headphone can be push into bespoke plastic plugs, which are also integrated with the walls.

42 is a young architecture and design studio based in London, UK, established by Johan Berglund in 2009. As a practice we are driven by the belief that architecture can enhance our society through excellence in design, coupled with contextual sensibility and a strong understanding of the social, cultural and environmental needs of our times.

The architectural output is driven by inventive ideas and strong concepts. We have established a thorough research methodology within the office, which means that we are able to deal with most types of projects and contexts without a pre-determined style. We enjoy grand ideas and bold con- cepts, but we also value the small scale and the intricate, and put great emphasis on achieving high quality detailing, atmosphere and materiality, regardless of the size of project and budget. We are often part of projects from an early stage, where our competence and skills can be used to help define the scope and brief of the project, assist with locating suitable sites for the project, as well as help secure funding from public and corporate bodies.

We undertake work in sectors such as Arts and Culture, Commercial, Sports & Leisure, Residential and Public projects. Our experience extends from one-off, carefully crafted interior fit-outs to large public buildings and landscape projects in Sweden, UK and the middle east.

Recently, 42 architects have received much attention for their inventive and playful retail environ- ments for Topshop and The Local Firm, as well as their design for a 6000m2 park area in Falun, Sweden, which is now under construction with expected completion in the spring of 2012.

Urbanears is excited to announce our first ever retail endeavor, located at Boxpark – the world’s first pop-up mall. Located next to Shoreditch High Street Station in London, U.K, Boxpark is an exciting new approach to retail, as the entire complex is made out of ship- ping containers. Much like the Urbanears philosophy of using unexpected materials in new and different ways, using shipping containers as modular retail units is what at- tracted Urbanears to the Boxpark concept.

The Urbanears Boxpark store is designed by 42architects, and features a minimalist de- sign with white walls and a white floor, allowing the colorful headphones to really stand out. There is giant light instillation in the back of the store, which changes colors throughout the day.

Urbanears has many events planned for the Boxpark store throughout the coming year, for more information on these events please sign-up for the Urbanears newsletter, lo- cated at Urbanears.com. “With Urbanears, we like to get people thinking outside of the box. In this case, the box is a shipping container being used as a store. It’s a new and unexpected way of looking at retail.” Says Konrad Bergström, President of Zound Industries.

Urbanears makes headphones that fit your everyday life. Supplying the perfect listening device for anyone with a pocket full of music and a wish to make the most of it. Ur- banears models are designed to optimize sound and captivate self-aware customers by matching preferences in size, style, design, function and relation to music. Other compa- nies may try to emulate the brand, but Urbanears is the original in colorful headphones.

Six architecture students have created a temporary fashion store in Budapest with a billowed canvas canopy and a sliced firewood floor.

Daniel Balo, Zsofi Dobos, Dora Medveczky, Judit Emese Konopas and Noemi Varga hoisted 250 square metres of fabric into place around the walls and ceiling of the shop for clothing brand Nanushka.

The firewood circles cover the whole floor of the store, while more sticks are fastened together to provide stands for accessories.

Inflatable lights by Hungarian manufacturer Ballon are attached to the fabric ceiling and garments hang from rusted steel racks.

Other popular fabric interiors we’ve featured include a hostel where guest sleep in fabric pods and a shop with hosiery stretched across the walls – see all the stories here.

Photography is by Tamas Bujnovszky.

Here’s some more text from Daniel Balo:

Nanushka Beta Store

Located in the heart of Budapest and created for the 2011 autumn / winter season, the new Nanushka retail space aims to emphasis the brand’s core values and contrast the sometimes overwhelming racket of the urban experience.

The young Hungarian fashion designer Sandra Sandor handpicked a team of enthusiastic graduates after posting an ad in several design schools. The selected architecture students, namely Daniel Balo, Zsofia Dobos, Dora Medveczky, Judit Emese Konopas and Noemi Varga, arrived to the team from separate universities and different classes. Working together for the first time, they had no more than three short weeks to finish the project.

Quick and creative solutions had to be found to complete the task within the short deadline. However, they faced other constraints: they had to come up with a design that would leave the interior unharmed (only minor drilling was permitted) and also had to work with a relatively low budget. Also, the retail space in question had an unusually elongated shape. These were the circumstances under which they would attempt to create a natural, warm interior that would be in harmony with the values of the Nanushka brand.

As inspiration for their design they used the wilderness and elements from classical wedding tents and barn weddings. Accordingly, they gathered together raw materials such as cotton, linen, firewood and rusted steel for the design.

First they created a rigging system for the 250 square meter canvas that would drape the interior by pulling cable wires below the ceiling. Running from front to back they were able to hoist the canvas into the air and let it fall and flow in a way that basically wrapped the entire retail space from the inside.

They then sliced firewood into little circles and laid them out to create flooring. Small display stands were built from logs of wood that sprouted from the ground. Linen poufs and Ballon Lamps sharing the same cylinder shape strengthened the organic flow of the space, while the strict, geometric forms of the counter and fitting rooms, as well as the rusted steel racks created a firm counterpoint and a calm balance. Contrasts were also created with the choice of materials through the combination of rusty, rough, smooth and soft surfaces, all soothing variations of tranquil, clean, quiet white.

The use of these elements and materials was highly eco-friendly as their recycling was actually the basis of the entire design concept.

Project information:
Project: Nanushka Beta Store
Location: Fashion Street, Budapest, Hungary
Client: Sandra Sandor – Nanushka
Design: Daniel Balo, Zsofi Dobos, Dora Medveczky, Judit Emese Konopas, Noemi Varga
Construction: Tamas Lindwurm – Honti Kft.
Lamps: Ballon Lamp Hungary
Photo: Tamas Bujnovszky
The project in numbers:
Gross area: 80 m2
Design and construction period: 3 weeks Lasting: November 2011 – February 2012 Canvas for the tent installation: 250 m2 Fire wood: 5 m3
Budget: 2000 €

Translucent boxes propped up on a forest of steel rods display products by skincare brand Aesop at a Hong Kong fashion store.

Designed by architects Cheungvogl, the monochrome display at I.T Hysan One was inspired by a black and white photograph of floating lanterns.

The supporting rods become taller towards the back, so the 800 resin boxes appear to be stacked into a tower.

Australian brand Aesop are renowned for creating unusual displays for their products – see more of their stores here.

Here’s some more information from Aesop:

Aesop I.T Installation, Hong Kong by cheungvogl

Aesop has created an installation in Hong Kong’s I.T HYSAN ONE flagship store that builds on our reputation for architecturally remarkable retail spaces.

The installation also operates as a counter. Aesop consultants present selections from our range of exceptional skin, hair and body care.

Cheungvogl architects, inspired by a black and white image of hundreds of floating lanterns, have imbued the I.T HYSAN ONE exhibition space with a similar delicate luminosity.

Eight hundred resin boxes are arranged atop steel rods of varying lengths, creating the sense that each box is ascending at its own pace, as if being drawn upward by an invisible thread. Some boxes hold Aesop formulations while others are designed to reward visitors’ curiosity through unexpected sound, scent and touch.

At the end of its two-week tenure the Aesop installation will be deconstructed and re-formed as a permanent counter on the first floor of I.T HYSAN ONE.

Aesop and I.T share an acute sensibility; we are focused on the highest standards of quality and creativity. We also have a common desire to explore how our respective products function within the intelligent and restrained application of design.

This installation marks the beginning of what is certain to be a long, exciting and creatively inspiring collaboration.

A story-centered approach to collaborative retail

Taking the principles learned from NYC-based start-ups, retail consultant Rachel Shechtman quietly unrolled A Startup Store last night in the shadow of the High Line. “A Startup Store has the point of view of a magazine, but it changes like a gallery and it sells things like a store,” she says. Shechtman calls the concept “transactional storytelling,” placing a narrative at the center of a retail venture. The store will be completely reinvented every four to six weeks, with a different theme guiding every detail.

The first story is “Beta.” Shechtman asks, “If a website can be in beta, then why can’t a store be in beta to work out its kinks?” As workers walked around setting up displays and adjusting light fixtures, the first few customers browsed the selection of goods from five NYC startups. Birchbox, a subscription retailer of beauty products, is displaying their monthly collection with a range of items from both couture and grass-roots brands. Also featured is Quirky, an online community that selects products to invent based on user votes.

Shechtman grew up around trade shows and as a girl wanted to shop for a living like the buyers she met. Six years ago, the idea for this new retail concept was born. A simple conversation with Shechtman essentially offers an education in retail, and she sees a clear path for the future of story-driven consumption. “As people have less time, they want more from their experiences,” she says. Dedicated to crafting new business models and forecasting trends, Shechtman wants to create an experience that is as much about the process as the final product.

In a display case near the back of the store is BaubleBar jewelry’s range of original neckwear. Nearby you can check out the goods from Joor, an online professional matchmaker for designers and retailers. The site is a valuable resource for up-and-coming brands as well as bigger businesses looking to reach boutique audiences.

Shechtman plans to launch a complimentary online shop that, with a fixed name and web address, will ironically have a more permanent feel than the polymorphous brick-and-mortar location.

Until recently, the interior was masked by massive eyes plastered by anonymous artist and TED prize-winner JR. Now, the current exhibition is displayed on modular furniture made from 90% recycled paper by Way Basics, and Mark Kusher of Architizer will curate the furniture of each new installation by matching architects to the theme. The back wall of the space holds artwork from Artspace, an online marketplace for affordable pieces from top contemporary artists.

As the store evolves, a permanent name will be attached and graphic designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister will provide the logo and branding—a rare treat from an artist who rarely does this kind of commercial work. Each upcoming installation will be underwritten by a brand that fits with the overarching theme. The store launches officially in February as a “Love” story.