Larissa Braga Mahima Chopra Monica De La Rosa
BRIEF
PROJECT Tailored Interior Design
INDUSTRY Luxury Retail
LOCATION North Star Mall - Texas, US
GOAL Develop a high-end handbag brand and create a concept to be employed in all their stores that will bring the brand’s DNA into the space.
OBJECTIVE Develop a concept for the brand and transmit it throught the design elements and materials
CLIENT DESIGNER Amadea Della Revere
LABEL O-RANGE
BUDGET $ 2 000 000.00
PRODUCT High end handbags
Amadea Della Revere is a Fashion Designer from Milan, Italy but based in Miami and specialises in handbag designing. She has designed merchandise using the label O-RANGE. Her designs explore primary shapes and block colours and an unusual twist on the mainstream shoulder bag. All her bags have unusual straps and are meant to be carried on the body or the wrist.
O-RANGE
THE BRAND O-range’s primary target market is high income, high status millennials. The ‘trendy’ brand is designed to appeal to a young audience. Millennials who acknowledge the importance of sustainability and admire the class in simplicity of design. The brand’s name summarises three main characteristics of the brand: Zero-waste, circular bags (signature product), a complete range of colours and styles.
MISSION O-range’s mission is to bring sustainability into the luxury scenario through material choices, manufacturing processes and business models VISION O-range’s vision is to deliver a fun and young profile that best utilises renewable and bio materials in their products
LOCATION
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE North Star Mall is a shopping mall in San Antonio, Texas, USA with anchor tenants Dillard’s, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Forever 21. The mall also has over 200 specialty stores, some exclusive to the San Antonio market, including Armani Exchange, The Cheesecake Factory, Build-A-Bear Workshop, MAC Cosmetics, Mont Blanc, Oakley, and Janie & Jack. The mall, which opened in 1960, is located at the intersection of Loop 410 and San Pedro Avenue in the city’s Uptown District. It is a well-known city landmark for its Texassized cowboy boots, created by Texas artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade, that are located along its Loop 410 frontage.
STORES 40 mq
146 mq
43 mq
30 mq
50 mq
CONCEPT
THE GEOMETRIC AURA In hand with the brand’s aesthetics, the store’s concept is based on simplistic geometry and colour gradients. Our starting point started to explore the idea of auras and the contrast of scale and opacity. These were taken from the logo and guided the initial research. The main characteristics of the initial concept are: - Transparency layered up - Circularity - Colour blocks - Overlay of shapes
ST YLE INSPIRATIONS
THE GEOMETRIC BODY The layout was approached having in mind the geometric body of the space. Inspired by Louis Reith’s geometric collages, the geometry underlying the design of the space anchors on midpoints, endpoints and centrepoints to build a cohesive assymetric space
MONOCHROMATIC SPACES Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base hue and extended using its shades, tones and tints. Tints are achieved by adding white and shades and tones are achieved by adding a darker color, grey or black. The concept allows shades to melt and compose one color even though there are several different shades. The colors need to contrast a bit but not to the point where it’s distracting.
ST YLE INSPIRATIONS
ASSYMETRIC GEOMETRY The essence of the store concept is to best display the products in accordance to the brand DNA. Therefore, all displays will have a geometry to it that ill be part of the bag on display, to emphasise the simplicity of the products.
SIMPLISTIC SHELVING In hand with the store displays, a simple and clean design for the shelves will emphasise once more the simplicity of the bags. Lighting and colours will help create a vibrant, yet simple composition.
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
THE LANGUAGE OF SIMPLICITY The composition wanted to translate the concept includes multiple different tactile materials that elaborate a rich material palette. The shapes and geometry of the elements all attempt to complement each other and compose a harmonic and complete picture to the user.
THE GRID
THE GRID As a starting point to the spatial organisation of the store, the common grid is replaced with the colour wheel grid. The central point of the space dictates the geometry and the disposition of the materials and the zoning also obeys such structure. The success of any visual storytelling relies mainly on what the audience perceives. We wanted to go back to basics and express how all the things we see are associated with simple shapes and how the use of these shapes affects the outcome of our strategic The layout grid is based on the orange shape. A circle shape has phycological meaning of infinity, protection, and femininity. Also represent completion, wholeness and harmony. In order to have a good colour scheme we have used geometric gradients to enhance the design.
ZONING AND CIRCULATION THE LAYOUT STRATEGY A good retail store layout allows for sufficient walking space for customers. The aisles are wide enough to accommodate traffic flowing in both directions and also a space for customers to stop near a product display, observe and try it on without disrupting the flow of traffic. The ability of customers to easily navigate through the circular shape is important in our layout design
CIRCULATION The layout of the store allows customers to enter from the front and be encouraged to walk to the back of the store through the circular grid. This increases the amount of time that the customers spend in the store and boosts the chances that they will buy more products. The better-selling items are spread out among the shelves to encourage customers to browse the entire store to find what they want. The circular layout of aisles brings customers through the front door with impulse products and some high-demand items, works customers to the back of the store with higher-priced items and then allows them to exit through the same aisle at the cash register locations.
Main collection
Try-out area
Low counter display
Cash area
Seating
Wall display (Shop frontage)
Signature collection
LAYOUT DEVELOPMENT
INITIAL IDEAS The initial proposal attempted to apply the grid on both the layout organisation and the composition of the elements on the elevation. The composition of the facade attempts to create a prism-like structure that can be experienced when approaching the store. The idea was to attract customers and stand out from the rest of the stores.
MATERIAL BOARD SUSTAINABILITY Sustainable luxury is the future. It is not an eco-friendly product seeking a premium image but instead, it is a luxury product with sustainable values. Luxury goods have implicit sustainability built in as they don’t go out of fashion and are life-long products. It is a challenge to make eco-friendly materials look as high-end as marbles and more luxurious stones; however, a composition of metals, bio-plastics and cork can create a successful composition. MATERIAL DESCRIPTION The materials chosen for this project are: - Cork - Reclaimed wood - Recycled brass - Bio-plastic terrazzo - Cheese-cloth organza - Pineapple leather - Glass
FINAL DESIGN
APPROACH The initial idea of the front approach to paint an image was attempted using elements at different levels, heights, scales and colours. The lighting is mostly dispersed and focused around the product displays. ZONING AND CIRCULATION The circulation of the final proposal was simplified and relies on two main flows. The disposition and zoning was left almost untouched and spaces were laid out according to a hierarchy between private and public.
Main collection
Try-out area
Low counter display
Cash area
Seating
Wall display (Shop frontage)
Signature collection
FINAL DESIGN
FINAL DESIGN
ELEVATIONS According with the brand identity it is important to continue showcasing the geometrical shapes. But also, it is important that products are displayed at the proper eye level to help to improve sales.
ELEMENTS SHELVES Inspiration: Transparent overlay of vertical fins Function: Main and signature collection Material: Recycled-brass mesh, cork, wood
ELEMENTS
FLOOR AND SEATS Inspiration: Monolithic furniture Function: Seats and floor detailing Material: Bio-plastic terrazzo and recycled brass
ELEMENTS
COUNTERS Inspiration: Monolithic furniture and curved geometry Function: Support and siplay counters Material: Recycled-brass mesh, glass, cork, bio-plastic terrazzo
ELEMENTS
TRY OUT AND CASH AREA Inspiration: Monolithic furniture Material: Terrazzo and glass and metal
MML STUDIO Under the mentoring of GPA Florence, we were able to design and assemble this project proposal for a hipothetical brand called O-RANGE. It was a great pleasure to have been given to opportunity to meet and work with the professionals at GPA. Once again, we thank you for all the guidance you have given us.
Larissa Braga Part I Architectural Assistant Interior Designer
Monica De La Rosa Interior Designer
Mahima Chopra Interior Designer