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Architects: sommm+associates
- Area: 82 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Kim Donggyu
The shop where the host loves to stay. Humans live, being affected by the environment around them. From the person next to us or the place they stay, we interact with influences around us. For our client who takes over 70% of their time at the shop every day, we can’t stress more the importance of the environment they are in. We considered that this space should be more comfortable and adorable than anywhere, for making them enjoy their stay, which will result in our clients welcoming customers pleasantly enough. We wanted to differentiate our space from the one distancing from freshness where there are not enough windows and lights, like a department store.
The site is the first floor of the corner building where the two roads meet, giving the indoor silhouette openness. Having openness can sometimes have both pros and cons. As a clothing store, it has merits highlighting products with silhouettes. On the other hand, there is the possibility of clothes being discolored with their nature after receiving southing lights over hours. But also, if our clients don’t have their own space where they rest after staying hours, it would be hard to manage the tiredness of being seen, which is why most shops get challenged to have time to eat and rest. For us, that said, this project required prioritizing comfortability and pleasantness for clients.
The Interior is a shallow space facing the window longways southwardly. ‘Long Slow Distance’, as we named it, we wish our clients could enjoy their products with their customers, ‘long & slow.’
a. When you get to the entrance, there are two walls your way - the first wall you encounter as you get in, making the area of the counter, the other wall making a small showcase and blocking deep western light. These walls work as a guideline, leading customers to the inside naturally.
b. At the store, it is the longest and thinnest translucent wall. This wall that crosses the store is divided into a front space and a backspace, creating a long line of flow in a small store. The back is the showcase of clothes that clients prepare. We planned to block south-facing light with translucent materials and to allow people to see clothes subtly from the outside.
c. After you pass and curve the translucent wall, you will face the wide empty space, where you can enjoy beautiful landscape space with lightness and warmness from southward light. This space is like a 'universal space' literally where it can be transformed - customers can change in the narrow fitting room, then look at themselves in the big mirror, or they can rest here. Sometimes, it becomes a photo spot utilized for clients when they upload new products on SNS.
d. The landscape space under the eaves is a space that expands the view from the inside and refreshes both customers and clients. We considered if our clients could have moments of planting and taking care of plants, it could be rest for them. We also expected plants changing by seasons will make the space look abundant. Beyond the landscape space, the shoulder-high wall serves as a background for plants and filters out the dizzy external landscape. From the external, the trees higher than the wall will look lengthened with the nature around naturally, which arouses curiosity about the space beyond the wall. The view of season changes - flowers blossom, turn red, and all go away - will be enjoyed by our clients and neighbors.
e. The wall facing showcases the area. It is the deepest wall, where it has a small showcase, and functional space having a small storage and fitting room behind the wall.
f. The space is hidden by a thick lighting wall of Barrisol lights, where our client can rest from being seen and have meals which allow the smell not to affect the store.
