2008 Notable Projects: Retail
Vol.03 No.02

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Architypes’ Notable Projects
Architype finds inspiration in projects that somehow redefine our understanding of a certain typology.  Through good design, these architects created smart and forward thinking solutions to the particular constraints or challenges presented by each project.  Grouped together by type, they provide a survey of innovation taking place at several different scales, promoted by both large and small firms. Presented here in the words and images of their own creative team, the following projects also offer an index of ideas and solutions as well as creative people and products within the industry.

Helios House, Los Angeles, California
Office dA | Johnston Marklee

Photography: © Eric Staudenmaier Drawings: © Office dA I Johnston Marklee

The design of Helios House embraces the paradox of creating a green gas station.  Located in Los Angeles at the intersection of two major north/south and east/west corridors – Robertson and Olympic Boulevard – Helios House is situated on a site with a preexisting gas station built in the mid-1970’s. An important goal of the project was to upgrade the original station in an environmentally conscious manner by “upcycling” old materials and installing new materials that are sustainable and recyclable. Conceived as a “learning lab,” Helios House is also designed to stimulate dialogue and education on the topic of environmental stewardship.

Within the site, water, heat, energy, lighting, and material systems are all built to maximize sustainability and energy efficiency. Much of the existing site features including the ground, canopy, pay kiosk, back building and price signs were regrouped as part of an integrated landscape of materials and surfaces. 100% recycled glass was mixed into the concrete, offsetting the need for sand in the concrete mix and mitigating the heat and fumes darker grounds like pavement emit. A green roof with native plants is situated on the back building which reduces the need for mechanical heating or cooling. Elsewhere throughout the site, additional plantings reduce CO2 by absorbing hydro-carbons.

Additional sustainable measures include an expanded canopy roof deck with 90 solar panels, reducing the carbon footprint of Helios House by 5,000 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Energy-efficient lights illuminate the station, which in concert with the canopy design reflect colored light on the faceted stainless steel cladding, allowing the station to draw 16% less electricity than conventional stations. Sensors further optimize the use of artificial light through a 24-hour cycle. 

Another key goal was to minimize material waste. The stainless steel canopy was designed using CATIA software which allowed for factory-precise design. Incorporating 1,653 stainless steel panels that were preassembled offsite into 52 transportable components, site assembly lasted only four weeks, creating an easily adaptable design that taps into the potential for mass customization.

Using architecture and design to reinvent the gas station experience, Helios House restores the fantasy and aspirations that gas station design once embodied. “Filling up” becomes a visually enriched experience; and in doing so, an opening is created for community outreach and education on how to incorporate sustainable choices into other aspects of daily life. Recycling receptacles collect paper, cans, bottles, and even old cell phones, which are donated to local charity. The overarching message with the community is that small changes in the right direction can make a big impact.

Conceived as a “living laboratory” that melds bold design, inventive fabrication, and sustainable building practices with a multifaceted communication strategy, Helios House uses design to inspire a community that is eager to raise its environmental awareness. Performance benefits will be evaluated and shared with customers and partners for possible use in future projects.

Anthropologie Dos Lagos, Corona, California
WORK Architecture Company

Photography: © Elizabeth Felicella Drawings: © WORK Architecture Company

This is the first of a series of stores designed for Anthropologie, the woman’s clothing and home furnishings store. They asked us to modernize the brand, finding their current store design too cluttered with “found objects,” clothing and goods. Our proposal was twofold: first we suggested moving storage and display to perimeter walls; second we proposed that nature be used within the store to jolt consumers out of their normal mall experience.
In the Dos Lagos project, the façade is a crenellated “curtain” of cast glass planks in a number of textures and finishes; the shape creates a series of display vitrines. Above this is a “green screen” with a series of holes in a gradient pattern that gets denser over the entrance. The screen will eventually be covered with jasmine vines. The awning is formed by a large aluminum folding door that closes off the store after hours.
Within the store we created a series of display niches and new store fixtures, from warehouse-like steel shelves to plug-in walls and ceilings. The niches utilize materials not traditionally used in retailing, including Panelite panels, silk-screened cork, acoustic insulation and oriented strand board.
The L-shaped plan creates two focal points within the space. One is a large glazed interior courtyard, open to the sky, with a green “suburban” lawn and an orange tree. In contrast to the “real” nature of the courtyard, we also created the “shoppable hill” containing a bench, space for hanging clothing, power outlets, potted plants, etc.

Owner
Anthropologie

Architect
WORK Architecture Company
www.work.ac
Project Team:
Firm Principals: Dan Wood/Amale Andraos
Architect: Sam Dufaux
Design Team: Christo Logan, Rebecca Satterlee, Linda Vestergaard

Engineer(s)
Structural:
Paradigm Structural Engineers Inc
M/E/P:
Polaris Consulting Engineers PC Inc.

Consultant(s)
Landscape:
D.I.R.T. Studio
Lighting:
Tillotson Design Associates

Contractor(s)
Russel-Filand Builders, Inc

Photographer(s)
© Elizabeth Felicella
Elizabeth Felicella Photography
www.elizabethfelicella.com

Loudermilk on Melrose, Los Angeles, California
Tighe Architecture

Photography: © Tighe Architecture Drawings: © Tighe Architecture

The 4200 square foot building on Melrose Avenue is the flagship showroom for Los Angeles eco-fashionista Linda Loudermilk. The designer’s philosophy of celebrating elements within nature whilst flattering the natural movement of the body is carried through in the architecture of the building. Nature is the core of the design in both the retail environment and the fine couture contained within. The project is a showcase for sustainable building systems, products and methods of construction. The two-story showroom serves as a backdrop for the collection. The program consists of retail space at the ground level. A salon for private showings and fittings and executive offices are located at the second level.

The rooftop garden is an extension of the landscape. A solar canopy provides shelter and power for the building while framing views of the Hollywood hills. A vegetative roof, walkways, decks, and skylights complete the composition of the roof-scape. A storm water retention system captures water that is then integrated into the irrigation system used for the living wall. The living wall is a vertical garden component that also serves as signage and an identity for Loudermilk. Environmentally mindful building systems, reclaimed / recycled / rapidly renewable materials and solar technology are some of the components that are used to meet the desired LEED certification criteria.

Owner
Linda Loudermilk

Architect
www.tighearchitecture.com
Tighe Architecture
Principal:
Patrick Tighe, AIA
Project Team:
Yosuke Hoshina, Risa Tsutsumi, Nick Hopson, Lisa Little, Karla Mueller.

Engineers and Consultants
Structural:
Gilsanz. Murray. Steficek Inc.
HVAC:
ACCO Engineered Systems
Landscape:
Cao | Perrot studio
Living Roof Design:
Rana Creek
LEED:
Gaia Development Services
Interior:
Rudin Donner Design, Inc.
Lighting:
Kaplan Gehring McCarroll Lighting

Contractor(s)
Hinerfeld-Ward Inc.

Drawing(s)
© Tighe Architecture

8746 Sunset Boutique, West Hollywood, California
PATTERNS

Photography: © PATTERNS Drawings: © PATTERNS

Site Restrictions
The project’s legal status as a renovation of an existing structure placed unique restrictions upon the scope of work and the inflections within the facade’s surface.
An existing steel column grid left from a previous renovation, pre-determined floor-to-floor heights, and areas of existing stucco exterior walls from the original building provided opportunities for playful exchanges and guided the development of the design.
Design Intent
Based on a radical geometric contextualism, our concept for the 8746 Sunset Blvd attempts to produce an architecture of subtle sensations by inducing a physical and optical dynamism that both challenge and enhance the movement of the body. The formal logic of the facade is the outcome of a productive negotiation between geometric operations governed by the column grid of the existing building and driven by spatial conditions allowed by the singularity of the adjacent context.
The spatial performance of the boutique is based on various forms of inflections. The bending effect of two reciprocally ruled surfaces: the façade that bends inside up and the pliant stair that bends outside down, create a magnetic field that gravitates towards the interior. By means of local inflections such as horizontal aperture gills which span along the front of the store, the bending façade allows the dynamics sensation of pedestrian activity on the sidewalk and nearby strip.
Glossy and Pliant Surfaces
Conceptually, the design references the hard ridges, the pliant, locally responsive surfaces, and the clean, concealed seams, which typify automotive fabrication. Every effort was made to minimize the intrusion of connection details on the outer surface by allowing the structure and hardware of the façade to be recessed behind the surface’s ribbon-like seams. Doing so ensures that the formally monolithic and plastically polished integrity of the façade is not compromised by secondary elements.
Collaboration and Material Innovation
The material and structural expertise of 3Form was an essential part of the design development process, acting as feedback for the continued development of the storefront facade. A series of full-scale prototypes were developed and fabricated within the design process and PATTERNS supplied 3Form with the surface aesthetics and geometric information needed.  Developing a set of custom details which would carry and seal the finished façade, as well as our interest in both, a reflectively glossy and viscously translucent surface.
Extruded Polycarbonate
The final material solution for the facade involves 3/8” polycarbonate panels, which would be extruded in a single pull, as opposed to the layered composite makeup of the Eco-Resin panels. Color and translucence are still entirely controlled by designer input. Molds for twisting panels will be CNC milled and polycarbonate panels will be heat formed over them at 3Form’s fabrication facility.
With the Polycarbonate panels, waterproofing and thermal expansion/contraction issues are taken up by hardware at the face of the panels, freeing the facade from any substrate or exterior wall. This has allowed the design evolution to include new translucence and lighting effects; which will help the project react to the neighborhood’s daytime and nighttime conditions.

Owner
Private

Architect(s)
PATTERNS
www.p-a-t-t-e-r-n-s.net
Principals in charge:
Marcelo Spina
Georgina Huljich
Project Architect:
Courtenay Bauer
Project Manager:
Marcus Friesl
Project Designers:
James Vincent, Matt Majack, Daniel Wolfe and Alex Webb

Associated Architect
Kluger Architects
www.klugerarchitects.com
Project Team:  
Chuck Kluger, Brad Brewer

Engineer(s)
Base Building Structural:
KPFF consulting engineers
Façade & glazing structural:
Endresware Inc

Consultant(s)
Façade Fabrication:
3Form
Lighting Designer:
Luminesece

Contractor(s)
GC:
Builder’s Team
Façade Installation:
LA ProPoint Inc.

Photographer(s)
Georgina Huljich
© PATTERNS
www.p-a-t-t-e-r-n-s.net

EKO, Toronto, Ontario
dialogue38

Photography: © Eric Lau Drawings: © dialogue38

Project Scope
Situated in the bustling heart of Toronto’s fashionable Queen West, EKO is an established boutique carrying contemporary and unique jewelry by renowned and up and coming jewelry designers from around the world.  As a reaction to the competitive global flagship stores emerging in the district, EKO responded by refining its position and rejuvenating its branding strategy.  The objectives of the renovation were to:
1)  Provide a retail space that reflects the creative and innovative designs of Eko’s products. 
2)  Increase merchandising space
3)  Showcase the merchandise effectively
Design Purpose
Passersby are piqued by curiosity.  The repetitive protruding columns and recessed vertical display cases conceal the exquisite contents.  A simple design becomes a sculptural yet neutral backdrop allowing the jewelry to color the space.  The display niches frame and isolate a selection of jewelry as artistic compositions providing a quiet gallery atmosphere.
Opening up the rear storage room, the retail space expanded from 580 to 860 square feet. Maximizing the wall area, an array of glass encased displays run along the entire length, framed by ribbed columns creating a straightforward systematic method of visual merchandising.  
Each case conversely maximizes the vertical flexibility for displaying products aesthetically without compromising the overall design.  The vertical isolation of clustered jewelry compositions allows one to concentrate on individual pieces with ease.  This arrangement also reinforces the concept of a gallery within a retail store.  A floating multipurpose marble display counter unifies the overall space and creates further movement.  Simultaneously creating an alternative visual merchandising experience it also conceals the cash counter. The uncluttered effect of the overall space encourages customers to focus on the products. Compression of the walls and ceiling draws one inward to the rear focal wall featuring a rotating installation by local artists.  This provides an outlet for local artists to showcase their creative works while periodically altering the ambience and dynamics of the space.  This newly renovated space is aesthetically exciting, innovative and yet functional.  Treasure hunting has become a new and rewarding experience in retail shopping.
Design Innovation
Hide and Seek: New Approach in Retail Design
The boutique embraced an unconventional idea of “Hidden Treasures” to entice shoppers and to set it apart from other retailers.   Its seductive and enticing presence along the streetscape invites passersby to enter, and upon entering one is surprised to find its contents.  As a result of this unique approach, walk in traffic has significantly increased.
Magnetic Display System
Without any conventional shelves and jewelry displays, a magnetic system of white aluminum blocks functions as modular display units for jewelry.  This system gives support and flexibility of arranging all types of jewelry in a timeless manner.  Not only is it operationally efficient and cost effective, but also makes merchandising effortless and enjoyable.
Artist Installation
The rear wall becomes a focal point intended as an artist’s installation exhibit, providing an outlet for local artists to showcase their creative works.  This periodic change refreshes the atmosphere and energy of the store while reinforcing the concept of a gallery within a retail store.

Owner 
Mina Yoon

Architect
dialogue38
www.dialogue38.com
Project Architect:
Bennett C. Lo              

Contractor(s)
Canson Building Ltd

Photographer(s)
© Eric Lau
www.elau.ca
Eric Lau Photography  

Maison Martin Margiela and Mameg, Beverly Hills, California
Johnston Marklee and Maison Martin Margiela

Photography: © Eric Staudenmaier Drawings: © Johnston Marklee

The two fashion boutiques Mameg and Maison Martin Margiela sit side-by-side, in a single building.  Their characters are different.  Whereas Mameg creates an atmosphere of domesticity and comfort, Maison Martin Margiela creates a jarring world of collage and reflection.  That the two boutiques, linked by a reflected-gold corridor, are so close physically and so distinct atmospherically prompted a simple division.  With Maison Martin Margiela opening onto the street and Mameg oriented towards a private garden on the alley side, an existing wooden bow truss roof system acts as the datum.  A program bar containing ‘back-of-house’ program frees up the rest of the space.  Diverse design vocabularies define the two boutiques. 
Mameg conjures the feel of a 19th-century archival library.  Simultaneously neutral through its flexibility and full through its occupation, a white shelving system unifies the double-height retail space.  Angled vertical supports compose a system of stacked white display boxes to produce a transitory image: it appears that, at any point, a unit could be removed, replaced, or reconfigured.  This sense of a fleeting composition is reinforced by the scale of the shelving system.  Rising from the floor to the mezzanine and trickling into compilations of smaller provisional arrangements, the objects displayed in the boxes play dual roles.  Up close, the objects assume primacy; from afar, the shelving system creates a thickened field.  The architecture is transformed by its occupation. 
Two skylights pierce the vaulted ceiling, and a steel window system flood the space with light.  The light bears the imprint of its lens, from the patterns of the skylight glazing and the window mullions.  At times, the light is forceful and bright; at others, the light is mottled and soft.  Different materials and finishes cast varying shadows and reflections.  The polished concrete floor contrasts with the aged quality of the existing reddish-orange brick; white-painted interior walls create pockets of brightness.  The combination of these materials heightens the all-around volumetric qualities framed by canted surfaces.
Unfolding from the shelving system, an oak-clad staircase leads to the second level, reserved for special displays.  A moment of revelation, combined with close proximity to the vaulted roof, calls to mind a surreal penthouse that is one-third too short.  Gaps in the stacked display boxes allow glimpses of the main retail space.  The wedged edges of the boxes flatten perspective yet create alluring depth. 
While Mameg assembles specifically curated pieces into the shelving and display system and throughout the store, Maison Martin Margiela uses a graphic language to produce effects.  Working in conjunction with Johnston Marklee, the Maison Martin Margiela boutique uses trompe l’oeil via collage and appliqué.  Taking runway photos, mundane objects, and unique textures, the boutique feels like a theater set.  Image layers are plastered onto the existing walls, regardless of previous uses.  Large doors are fixed to the walls, and glass cabinets are inserted into cut openings.  Graphic wall paper and films printed with photographs of the original Paris atelier are plastered onto vertical surfaces.  A neon sign creates a momentary distraction but reorients all guests to new views.  Plastic champagne flutes are constructed into a full-height display tower.  The assemblage of these disparate elements continue Maison Martin Margiela’s foray into a deconstructed image.
Together, the two distinct worlds of Mameg and Maison Martin Margiela present a solution of coherence through logics of multiplicity and difference of space and image.

Owner
Maison Martin Margiela and Mameg 

Architect(s)
Johnston Marklee
www.johnstonmarklee.com
Principal in charge:
Sharon Johnston AIA
Project Architect:
Katrin Terstegen
Project Team:
Albert Chu, Robert Garlipp, Nick Hofstede

Creative and Design Firm for Maison Martin Margiela:
www.margiela.com
Project Team:
STAFF USA

Engineer(s)
Structural:
B.W.Smith Structural Engineers
Mechanical & Plumbing:
John Dorius & Associates
Electrical:
A&F Consulting Engineers

Consultant(s)
As-Builts:
Dan Fried
Lighting:
Kaplan Gehring McCarroll
Landscape:
Edina Weinstein Gardens
Millwork (MMM shelf):
Artistic Crafters

Contractor(s)
General Contractor (TI):
Lofton Contracting Inc
AC Tech Construction
Façade & Garden:
Johnston Madrigal Construction
Campos Construction
Finish Carpenter- Artisan:
Christopher Torres
Metal Fabrication (Clothes racks):
Hype Arc Design+Build
Mirror & Glazing:
Rohan Glass
Landscape:
Sergio Contreras Landscape

Photographer(s)
© Eric Staudenmaier
Eric Staudenmaier Photography
www.ericstaudenmaier.com

Wykagyl Shopping Center, New Rochelle, NY
Wendy Evans Joseph Architecture

Photography: © Wyatt Gallery Drawings: © Wendy Evans Joseph Architecture

Nothing is perhaps as quintessential and ubiquitous as the American, suburban shopping center. Originally constructed in 1957 by the current owner’s father, this 25,000-square-foot Center remained a financially viable property. However, the premises deteriorated, the aesthetic was outdated, and the owner wanted to improve revenue and decrease recurrent vandalism by providing night lighting. The renovation proposes an entirely new architectural character, featuring coherent graphics and enhancing the public visibility of the Center from the village main street. At the same time, decreasing maintenance costs, environmental responsibility and strengthening property value through increased occupancy rates remained priorities. Now, high-end national tenants with 24-hour hours along with our improvement make this a safe haven and for the developers, the star of their portfolio.
Innovation and design
The design, distinctively different in character from the original, is rigorous and boldly thematic. Aluminum is used in lightweight, 1/8” thick panels, which were easily transported to the site and hoisted into place without heavy equipment, so not a single hour of business was lost during construction. Aluminum requires literally no maintenance and works well with the graphic system. 24-inch by 10-foot sheets are bent into a continuous undulating pattern. Although these curving aluminum panels create an exciting artistic presence, for economy the actual layout consists of a series of twelve standard shapes determined by the length of the bracket off the original brick fascia. The panels appear dynamic in their reflection of changing sunlight by day and scintillating by night.
Attached as single applied forms and letters to the undulating aluminum panels, the new the new signage is easily changed as leases renew. They have a consistent letter height but the font/logo varies according to the identity of the store. We met with tenants individually to ensure satisfaction with changes and to fulfill the criteria of corporate identity.
Budget
The final cost of the renovation, including all graphics, other miscellaneous storefront improvement and soft costs was approximately $400,000.  Additional funding outside the scope of our work was required for parking and sidewalks. The Owners feel that this expense was “worth every penny;” since the renovation, rental fees increased 200%, sales and revenues are up while maintenance costs and are down; vandalism has disappeared. The increased rentals and sales have offset the costs of the renovation at a pace of four times that originally envisioned.  But, for us perhaps more important than the projects financial success is that the village, the local mayor and the tenants all consider the center a local landmark and it has helped foster a rejuvenation of what was an ailing central business zone.

Owner
Wykagyl Associates HJ LLC

Architect
Wendy Evans Joseph Architecture
www.wejarchitecture.com
Project Team:  
Wendy Evans Joseph, Robert Furno, Thruston Pettus, Christoph Niethammer, Elizabeth Burrow.

Consultant(s)
Lighting:
Focus Lighting

Contractor(s)
General Contractor:     
Lyons-Minskoff Inc     
Metal Contractor:        
WeBuild Inc    
Roofing Subcontractor:
Raymond S. Dean Inc.

Photographer(s)                       
© Wyatt Gallery
Wyatt Gallery Photographer
www.wyattgallery.com

Nike Vision, Traveling Exhibition + Nike Genealogy of Speed, New York City, NY
Lynch/Eisinger/Design

Photography: © Albert Vecerka / Esto Drawings: © Lynch/Eisinger/Design

Nike Vision
Nike Vision is designed as a traveling exhibition and sales booth for Nike’s performance eye-wear. As an itinerant booth, it is a site-less structure, self-supporting both structurally and spatially.  Likely to be placed in busy public environments, the booth is designed neither to out-shout its eventual context, nor to hide its wares in a hermetic shell. Instead, architectonic presence comes from the use of a consistent building block – the eyewear display box – to serve three functions: display, structure, and enclosure.  The boxes mediate the scale difference between the multiple small objects (eyeglasses) on display, and the actual habitable space, while providing each object with its own visual and physical container – one of the central challenges of the design. The repetitive form allows the pavilion to be read simultaneously as one enclosure and many.
In a further effort to toy with one’s visual perception of the booth, LED distorted the open “building block” elements into  parallelograms, so that from certain angles the enclosure appears quite solid, and from others, entirely open. Portions of the vertical surfaces are printed with imagery, visible only from predetermined vantage-points, and disintegrating as one’s perspective changes.  All of this serves to engage passersby for longer than just a single glance, the small interior space unfolding and shifting continually as one walks around and through it.  Colored glass or graphic inserts can also be placed within the open display cases, to enhance or mask graphics on the back wall of the pavilion interior.
Finally, the building block approach also facilitates rapid assembly, disassembly, and transportation of the whole structure, while repetition of a small number of repetitive elements keeps production costs low.

Nike Genealogy of Speed
This installation reflects 40 years of Nike’s efforts to make athletes go faster. The challenge was to communicate the varied lineages of Nike product development, while evoking the intangible goal of speed. The resulting environment is shaped by three factors: speed (the “cause”), the artifacts being exhibited (the “effect”), and the developmental timeline that relates the two through the years. Rather than trying literally to build speed in a static construction, the designers examined the secondary effects of speed, such as the Doppler and Bernoulli Effects, sonic booms and Lorentz transformations, in search of the physical shape of speed. New computational and fabrication techniques were used to produce an environment which embodies the characteristics of the exhibited design artifacts - innovative use of materials, minimal weight, integration of different systems in a unified whole.
A “family tree” of Nike’s design lineage became the graphic generator of three-dimensional form, as chronological vectors are translated into the language innate to the topology of bent steel. The result is a flowing, three-dimensional surface, simultaneously light, tactile, emotive and informative. Innovative algorithms were used to predict the deformation of the steel surface, which was laser-perforated, and fabricated with no welding. A time-line stretches across the surface, registering the highlights of Nike design, the products of which are displayed set into the opposing steel plane. On this flat wall, iconic shoes rest in brightly lit niches, laser-cut into the flat steel surface which reflects and contrasts with the movement across the room. As suggested by the red shift (Doppler Effect), the geometry of the niches gives a wholly different impression when coming or going. On entering the space, or examining the shoes from early in the genealogy, one sees only the glowing fins projecting from the intakes housing later products. When looking back from the recent products toward the past, however, all the designs which have led to this place in time are visible.

Owner
Nike, Inc.

Architect (Nike Vision)
Lynch/Eisinger/Design
www.lyncheisingerdesign.com
Project Team:
Simon Eisinger, Christian Lynch, Brandon Pass, Mike Gibson, Christopher Connock.

Architect(s) (Nike Genealogy)
Lynch/Eisinger/Design
www.lyncheisingerdesign.com
Project Team:
Simon Eisinger, Christian Lynch, Christopher Connock.

KD Lab
www.kdlab.net
Dean Di Simone, Joseph Kosinski

Consultant (Nike Genealogy)
Fabrication:
Haresh Lalvani

Contractors (Nike Genealogy)
General Contractor:
Lynch/Eisinger/Design
Contractor:
Tangram
Metal Fabrication:
Milgo-Bufkin
Metal Installation:
Material Process Systems

Photographer (Nike Genealogy)
© Albert Vecerka / Esto
www.esto.com/vecerka.htm
www.avphotography.com

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