Quick Initial Sketches

Following my precedent work, I have quickly whipped up a few initial sketches to try and get an idea of what the interior of my store could potentially look like. The space is quite elongated therefore I must use the depth rather than the width in the way that I design my store.

This idea is potentially having the first floor almost as a like a large 'window' shop, in which customers enter the store and look at all the displays, and if anything tickles their fancy they progress upstairs for fitting.

Hanging seating from steel beams in an attempt to allow space underneath seats for things? Run L.E.D strip lights around steam beams and underfloor lights to create atmosphere within the store.

Looking at a way in which I could incorporate seating whilst maintaining room for displays? Having displays on the back of the seating? Clear resin in which customers can see the shoes from either side of the seat. Point of sale located at the back of the store with more display shoes.

Quick sketches looking at potential layouts of the store and how I could use furniture or fixtures to display my shoes. Also considering the existing steel beams on the premises, I could carry that aesthetic along the rest of the wall by making a sort of feature wall out of steal which could be used to distinguish different display shoes..

From my short site visit, without being able to enter the store, this is what I can remember of what the interior of the store looks like. This could be wrong however.. I will need to find a time to get back to the site and document it properly.

Considering Materiality

Due to the fact that I want to create a minimalist driven store layout and aesthetic, I have begun to consider what materials I could implement. There are steel beams throughout the existing premises which look as though they are load bearing. Due to the fact that I want to keep the existing second floor, I will keep the steel beams also. 

I feel that by using steel beams and a polished concrete floor will really bring out the minimalistic aesthetic that I am striving for. However, I do not want to use a really glossy polished floor as I feel that that could potentially be tacky. The following are examples of how my floor may look like:

I really like the glossiness that example has. I really want to incorporate coloured l.e.d lighting within my store to help create a particular atmosphere, so using a polished floor like above will really help my colours pop throughout the interior of my store. I don't really want the harshness of the joining between the slabs of concrete though, if I do have to have joints, I will want to make them as clean as possible. 

I chose this example not only for the glossiness and grain of the concrete, I really like the concrete slabs protruding down from the ceiling. This really helps to reinforce the minimalistic aesthetic that I am striving for. Due to the fact that I am intending on keeping the second storey in my store, I probably will not be able to hang something like this due to the amount of load and the amount of space I have to work with.. I may try do something will the steel beams to replicate the concept however, as I feel that this could be a very interesting way of displaying my products. 

This is more of a material focused image in which I absolutely love this concrete grain. Again the glossiness is not too pronounced which I like, but having this grain, adds another element to the floor. 

Precedent 4: MRQT Boutique

Store: MRQT Boutique

Location: Stuttgart, Germany

The 22,000 stick wall aside, simplicity in this store works perfectly. The minimalism not only creates emphasis on the large feature wall, but more importantly the garments that are for sale. The designers / owners have not added anything that is not essential in the store which I feel works really well in this precedent. A lot of the time less is more. The combination of polished concrete with white walls (bar the feature wall) only reinforces the minimalist aesthetic and creates a sense that the garments or on show like a gallery .

I love the feature wall. To quote ROK Office on their write up about MRQT, "the store features a unique fur-like wall consisting of 22.000 wooden sticks with individual directions and of various lengths. The installation refers to the flowing forms and delicate texture of textiles and cloth. It creates a unique and sensational background for the fashion items displayed on the smoothly integrated clothes hangers. The flow of wooden sticks and subtle lighting frames a central full height mirror and forms a central “stage” for the customer."

I want to incorporate something into my own design along the same lines as this wooden feature wall. I want to try and design a feature wall that plays on the internalised feelings and subsequent emotional response that one has with light. Therefore as this project progresses, I will need to do some sketches and models of potential solutions to this idea.

Precedent 3:

Not sure where this store is located or even what it is called, but I love the aesthetic that is created through the use of the wooden palettes as both the seating and hung to work as the backing for the shoe displays, but especially I love the hanging tires. This somewhat industrial, rugged look and feel really complements the style and aesthetic that the shoes have. I feel that if the shoes were business shoes like Double Monk, this store would not work at all as the two aesthetics would clash. 

The lighting in the store is quite standard, with down lights on the ceiling, however the forms of the shadows cast from especially the tyres is quite nice. It is a bit hard to see from the images, but I also love the pattern on the walls. This simple bevelled pattern really adds another element to the store as opposed to being plain walls. Overall I really like this precedent and I will consider elements used, for example fixtures hanging, within my own designs.

Precedent 2: Double Monk

Store: Double Monk

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Double Monk is a store in Melbourne, Australia, delivering the World's finest men's shoes. What really intrigued me about this precedent is the structure, layout and design style of the store. Double Monk has really pulled back the years to deliver an early 1900 vibe from their old designer dress shoes, to the décor that is used throughout the store - even to the extend of doubling as a working bar in which consumers can share a beverage whilst getting their high quality shoes. 

The lighting used in this precedent is well thought about, in which they have created a store that has a warm welcoming hue to it, which is amplified through the choice of wooden furniture. There seems to be down lighting in each of the shoe bays to emphasise each pair of shoes and make them glisten and shine - thus in doing so become more enticing for consumers.

The storage within the store is also very well thought through and is efficient and aesthetically pleasing for the amount of stock on hand. The idea of the sliding ladders is quirky and practical which helps to develop the aesthetic and style that is conveyed throughout. Overall I feel that this is a very quirky, well designed store that has a specific demographic of slightly older, well presented businessmen. I feel that it entices and appeals to the target audience very well. 

Precedent 1: I.L.U

Store: I Love Ugly
Location: Old Bank Arcade, Lambton Quay, Wellington

I Love Ugly (I.L.U) is a men's high end fashion retail brand focused on "sourcing and customising unique fabrics from around the world, and uphold an unwavering attention to bespoke styling. The details are not the details they are the design." They continue their design aspirations in their apparel through into their retail outlet stores also. Creating sleek, atmospheric stores through lighting and materiality, that appeal to their consumer demographic. 


Taking their Wellington store for example, by combining a polished concrete floor with black fixtures and storage, it helps to create a mood in the store that is both mysterious and captivating for the consumer. The down lighting used creates emphasis on the clothes themselves without being too overpowering that it disturbs the mood. I Love Ugly have also used items within the store to help convey the ideas and inspirations behind the brand and their garments.


I love this store, putting the brand and their garments aside - due to the fact that I actually shop at this store, the way that this store is organised and the mood that is created as one enters the store, every time I walk past the Old Bank Arcade I have an urge to go in. I want to design a retail store that could achieve the same following of consumers, enticing them through both the products that I would sell, and the mood that I create. 

Rethinking Retail

Brief.. 

“Through a battery of increasingly predatory forms, shopping has infiltrated, colonised, and even replaced, almost every aspect of urban life. Town centres, suburbs, streets, and now airports, train stations, museums, hospitals, schools, the Internet, and the military are shaped by the mechanisms and spaces of shopping. The voracity by which shopping pursues the public has, in effect, made it one of the principal - if only - modes by which we experience the city. Perhaps the beginning of the 21st century will be remembered as the point where the urban could no longer be understood without shopping.”

Aim:

The aim of this project is to re-think retail to consider how we ‘shop’, where we ‘shop’ and when we ‘shop’ in context to new developments in virtual and physical retail environments. This project examines the themes of ihi and wehi associated with the creative process. It addresses the intangible resonance within creative practices and acknowledges that design is so much more than the sum of its component physical parts.

Context:

Ihi and wehi are complimentary terms associated with emotional and psychological behaviour. Ihi can be described as an individual’s essential force, charisma, power or charm – which emanates throughout the creative process. Wehi, on the other hand, highlights the internalised feelings that occur in response to ihi.  Sometimes the terms dread or awe are commonly used to describe wehi. In this context, wehi is taken to mean the emotional response on the part of the observer.

How does your work make you feel? How does the work of others make you feel?  What effects, intentional or unintentional, does it provoke or generate? What energy or resonance does your work have for others?

Project:

With the emergence of the Internet and e-commerce current retail shopping experiences are rapidly changing. What are the differences between virtual online shopping environments and the tangible experience of a ‘bricks and mortar’ store? You are to question the experiences of shopping and think of ways to rethink a physical retail environment in relation to emerging trends of online shopping environments. You need to use light to create an experience of ihi and wehi.