The Lucien Pellat-Finet Shinsaibashi designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, in Japan, is about a multipurpose retail store, where designer clothes, books, fabric and leather goods are a part of the displayed merchandise. Inside the store, the architects have adapted a free evolving form based on plant creepers to act as an inner skin. This layer of free form is made of irregular pentagon and trapezoidal shapes made from structural plywood and connected to one another by aluminium fasteners. This form grows all over the inner walls and even covers the ceiling, thus making it look like an expansive honeycomb.
It is a 2 tiered retail outlet, where the emerging plant like open wooden forms grows from the entrance to the staircase, leading into the library and ceiling of the store. In this outlet, every space on the inside is made functional for display, storage, and also, to enhance the interior décor of the retail store. Being irregular in form, the display shelves have no predefined pattern and can be evolved over time. It gives the retailer the freedom to display multiple goods or use a selective area for a specific product whilst the remaining shelves can be left unused, which helps in toning down the interior of the place.
For any retail store, the frontal facade is a very important place to promote the brand, and this store has used a splash of bold pink fibre sheets overlaid with glass, which brings out the transparency of the wood display shelves. These shelves give a glimpse of the interior and visually offer the need to explore, to be curious, to feel and touch, which makes shopping a better experience. On the whole, the retail is chic and haute, with a sense of nature on the inside that reflects the brand and the products on display.
Photos By : Daici Ano
