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Architects: AntiStatics Architecture
- Area: 300 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:UK Studio
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Lead Architects: Mo Zheng, Martin Miller
Text description provided by the architects. The Red-Vicutu Store creates a balance between the dynamic and dramatic, with a clean elegance and sophistication, as inspired by the dual nature of the fashion industry and in particular the clientele of the Vicutu brand. The product to be featured in the store embodies this duality as a refined collection of active wear. Drawing upon the client’s intentions for the brand, the design of the spaces utilizes the curvilinear form to suggest and promote the active dynamism of the product, using advanced fabric simulation and 3d printing to create marquee features within the space. Subtle lighting and textural details create the final refinements within the space elevating the user experience within the in person shopping environment.
By creating continuity of form, lines and curves which define the retail space encourage the eye to move playfully through the store. As the eyes trace and connected the explicit and implied geometries, the visitor is taken through the collection of clothing by the fashion brand. In this way, the define specious architectural space behaves as a curator and narrator of the product by not simply presenting the products, but by arranging them in a spatial construct which encourages an immersive and engaged experience.
The arcs and curves of the façade draw the exterior into the interior and culminate at featured elements of the collection. These feature points then take visitors deeper in to the store, with the geometry which defines the spaces beaconing shoppers to go deeper into the space and collection. Though dramatic, this subliminal use of geometry to cater ones experience of a brand, product and collection suggests a novel method of how we understand and design the retail space, as experience rather than presentation space.
Embodying the innovative nature of the brand and its future-minded view of the industry, we have created a series of unique sculptural elements to further entice visitors to explore the space more deeply. Using advanced computational simulations, we have created a three dimensional freeze frame of fabric in the process of flowing and draping over a static form. The over-sized scale of the threads and their expressive weaving patterns reveal a nuanced super reality in the sculpture, by creating these extra-large threads we are expressing to the observer an element of garments which is often ignored because of the fine nature of weaving fabric.
The curiosity of these works draws visitors into the store for closer examination, as the simulation of the form produces a hyper-realistic result while the irregular scale of the threading declares the imagined nature of the work. Expressive works like these play an important role in the future of retail where potential clientele are seeking an ever more compelling experiential qualities in retail spaces.
The final refinement of the spaces is in the attention to materiality and texture, as in fashion the shaping of a garment is equally as important as the selection of the cloth from which it is cut and assembled. In this space we have blended materials to create a play between the soft and hard perceptions of surface similarly to the construction of different garments. The features which display clothing, and the details embedded into the walls are analogous to the zippers, buttons and stitching that defines the final refinement of fashion. The lighting is finely tuned to best express these materials and enhance the perception of the products in the store, while creating a comfortable and exciting space to meander.
The Red-Vicutu retail space, is beyond what we expect from a conventional retail store, it stands out from its adjacent neighbors and creates a point of intrigue within the larger collection of shops. In the age of online retail, it is stores like this one which will continue to thrive, by bringing users into the space for the experience of it, if only to capture that experience through the lens of their phone, the subsequent sharing of that unique experience through online platforms is an essential way to crowd source brand awareness. This level of detail, refinement and creativity will serve to further the brand and its online presence through the in person experience, a new way of exploring what retail means in a dual world of online and physical existence.
