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Many retail environments have failed to speak with consumer in a language they understand, that has any relevance to them or that manages to stay embedded in their minds for any more than a few minutes. There are a few examples out there, bathing Ape, Viktor and Rolf, Mandarina Duck that have really managed to express the brand through the retail channel as opposed to creating a white elephant something that does not continue the customer journey touch point continuum or add to the overall converstaion. It appears finally Uniqlo have also joined this prestige.They have for some time beien communicating in a unique voice that is distinctively theirs and does not default to the cheap and ubiquitous Top Shop style of language.

Curiosity has completed the design of the Uniqlo Megastore that has opened near Shinjuku station in Tokyo. The new design is strongly influenced by the Tokyo urban landscape and the large entrance, marked with three display towers, recreates a mini-Shinjuku city. As the lighting floor wraps the towers in a glow of light that illuminates the surrounding streets, the shop becomes an active element of the street: attractive, reliable, and secure.

Borderless Entrance: The layout and angulations of the towers inside blur the boundaries between the street and the retail space, creating a unique environment in a busy street of Shinjuku and capturing what is great about Uniqlo, that you can’t help looking.

Reflection of Reflection Entrance: The city seems to have become human scale as you move freely around the three towers. The vertical displays of the entrance are reflected on the mirrored wall creating an amazing gallery of displays, a maze of reflections of reflections, the tower seeming to be inserted within the interior of the shop.

Non Existance Interior: The challenge of the interior is for it not to ‘exist’. Only the clothes should be visible. Display furniture is not only reduced to the minimum but also ‘designed’ to be non-existent with materials selected for their immateriality. A lighting ceiling, displays and counters work together to remove the shadows creating an abstract retail environment where products and customers seem to float in a white glow.

All combine to create the energy and different style that exists within Uniqlo.

Boys who like cool toys head to I-Way, a luxe, mega venue dedicated to motor sports racing simulations. I-Way provides aspiring speed racers with an opportunity to experience the adrenalin rush that comes from being behind the wheel of a Formula 1, Endurance or Rally car. The high-tech simulators offer real “piloting” sensations, mounted into a real car, which is experienced through several screens which surround the driver’s field of vision.

The venue is pitched at corporate groups, who, presumably can bond over high speed racing sessions – and all without creasing their polo-necks. To enhance the experience created by the simulators drivers suit up in race outfits, helmets and gloves.

I-Way’s modern design hits its target market perfectly with wide open spaces, industrial finishes and futuristic reflective surfaces. It’s boys playing with expense toys – luxe style.  Located in Lyon, France, the venue also houses a bar, a shop (which sells cool motoring accessories) and bizarrely, a gym and spa. Anyone for a round of weights and a facial in between races?

thecoolhunter.com

In most cities, strategic downtown street corners are flanked by enormous, old banks, the ornate cathedrals of capital designed to impress and intimidate. With the massive changes in real estate values and consumer banking habits, such monuments to Mammon are no longer smart or necessary. But what amazing opportunities such massive commissions must have been for the architects of the day! And what depressing alternatives we’ve experienced since! Luckily, online banking has made a bank visit almost obsolete, but when you must visit, most of the time you’ll find a boring, convenience-store-type standardized box — retail banking in the worst meaning of both words.

But we are starting to see a change. Several new bank design concepts are in the works, and some have been launched recently, including CheBanca! in Milan by Crea International. The concept for CheBanca! (translation: What a bank!) reflects the brand’s simplicity, transparency and innovation. When Crea International co-founder  will speak at POPAI Italia in November on the power of physical brand design to bring to life a brand’s language, spirit and values, he will no doubt mention CheBanca!

And now that we have seen a few examples of fabulous bank design, we want more! If you’ve seen, designed or commissioned one, let us know.

www.dezeen.com

dezeen-%c2%bb-blog-archive-%c2%bb-inamo-restaurant-by-blacksheep.pdf

Always a great advocate for involving the consumer this restaurant apeals to my sense of play. Namo, a whole new concept in west end dining, opens this month in the heart of London’s Soho, with menus projected onto tabletops, allowing diners to order food and beverages interactively, to change the ambiance of their individual table, to play games and even to order up local information and services, such as booking a cab

 www.dezeen.com

Against a background of natural terrain and vegetation, is a “red ribbon” spanning five hundred meters, which integrates the functions of lighting, seating, environmental interpretation, and orientation. While preserving as much of the natural river corridor as possible during the process of urbanization, this project demonstrates how a minimal design solution can achieve a dramatic improvement to the landscape.

The Tanghe River Park, located in Qinhuangdao, China, features a new installation of red steel that stretches for 500 meters along the riverbank. It is made of fiber steel, and lit from inside so that it glows red at night.

Four pavilions in the shape of clouds are distributed along the ribbon, which provide protection from the weather, meeting opportunities, and visual focal points.

www.asla.org

Rice Gallery commissioned this installation in collaboration with The Museum Fine Arts in Houston exhibition, The Modern West: American Landscape, 1890-1950.

Rip Curl Canyon was a kind of mythical location in the American West where land and water collide, far from Houston’s flat drained swamps. From its highest point at the rear of the gallery, its steep, crevice-like formations sloped down and gained momentum before breaking apart to form ribbons of curling waves. Like rip currents – narrow, fast moving belts of water – the segments twisted and surged toward the front glass entry wall. The view through the glass provided only glimpses of the unfolding topography beyond and invited the visitor to probe deeper. The steady climbing exploring caused the raw cut cardboard to slowly compress with each footstep…over time this accumulation developed into subtle pathways.

The fabrication processes used to make the natural brown surfaces are in the lineage of those Gehry employed in his legendary “Easy Edges” line of furniture in the 1970’s. Expanding on this knowledge enabled us to create architecturally scaled cardboard structures and introduce double curvature. We used the properties and limitations of the material – determined through building full scaled mock-ups during development combined with a parametric digital interface – to shape the cardboard – ribbons.” The project required laminating over 20,000 strips (weighing approximately eight tons) of curved, industrially die-cut corrugated cardboard in twelve days. Incredibly strong and capable of supporting the weight of several people, the cardboard laminates operate as semi-monocoques with an intermediary plywood armature. The armature was made of standard wood materials – 2 x 4s and plywood – individually cut and CNC routered offsite to conform to the varying dimensions and curvature of the undulating cardboard shells. We digitally developed a language of slotting connections so that these non-standard parts came together like a giant puzzle in four days, required very little structural decision making in the field and gave us the freedom to make improvised choices when installing the cardboard.