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Architects: Absence from Island
- Area: 40 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Absence from island
Text description provided by the architects. BBG is an online fashion retailer founded in 2015 which uses Instagram as its major distribution channel. In 2021, in the time of Covid-19, they decided to have their first physical store on the street. BBG wanted to discover a new way of interaction with customers and to have a wider audience. The client would very much like to grow as a company and this will be an important step for them to create a more established image so that they will have the opportunities to land on bigger fashion brand names and to distribute their products.
BBG was originally based in Yuen Long, a fast-growing area at the outskirts of Hong Kong, and in the midst of Covid-19, they managed to find a street corner shop with a large facade, however, it comes with a staircase which turns the main opening into a trapezium with its underside. Nevertheless, we, as designers, saw this as an opportunity and added the opposite diagonal edge to complete the shape of a house. The new shop is meant to be BBG’s new home and a new identity for BBG where its future success can be built on. Metal mesh of both the facade and the furniture is designed for flexible arrangements of the display so that various events can be held in the shop.
In today’s world, especially while we are still in the midst of Covid-19, it is only natural to think that a brand or a company would focus more on online presence rather than developing a physical presence. But, it is also because of this changing time, BBG found an opportunity to develop its physical store and believes the physical store will be as important as the online store in the future. As designers, we also agreed that the physical shopping experience should be more interesting and experiential in the future and it shall eventually help elevate the brand’s image. Physicality will remain important as long as it is still part of human desires and enjoyment.
In terms of design language and materials, the white metal gridded mesh is used as the key element and is implemented on the facade as well as on the wall panels and shelves in the interior. On the facade, the metal mesh is excellent in creating the house shape. It helps cover part of the staircase and it acts as a veil to the trapezium opening which allows pedestrians to have a peek into the shop at the same time. The metal mesh was also chosen due to its association with sports style that dominates throughout the brands carried by BBG. It is excellent to provide flexibility for various displays as required by the ever-changing products, as well as for hanging posters and decoration for pop-up events and exhibitions.
