Oskar Kohnen principal idea behind this design was to create a museum-like white box containing a multitude of architectural elements to play with the visitor’s imagination. Stairs lead to nowhere, arches become entrances to shelves.
The space is about fantasy. Not the traditional retail fantasy of transformative commodities, rather a totally unexpected and unknown relationship opens up between the visitor and the pieces within. The basic shapes of stairs, curves, arches, and nooks, once contained in the white box, transform into a museum collection, a collection of memories that each visitor will pair with their own to create a singular experience.
The deliberately unsymmetrical layout encourages exploration, a sense of the unknown; a riposte to the uninspiring uniformity of replicated stores.A gridded ceiling above unifies the fragments into a total environment. Its’glowing light casts a synthetic atmosphere to the store,emphasising the sense of it being a space apart from others. As with the contrasting fragments of architecture, differing aesthetics combine to enlivening effect.
- Interiors: Oskar Kohnen Studio
- Photos: Michele Yong
- Words: Qianqian