Rising fashion designer Derek Lam has opened his first boutique store in conjunction with a new
headquarters in early 2009. SO-IL has designed the atelier, showrooms
and administrative offices of the Derek Lam company which is located in
a five story land-marked loft building in downtown SoHo. The initially contradicting desire for both an
open office and substantial privacy is achieved by devising a series of
adjoining spaces which are gently separated by an ultra thin wall.
People and spaces are connected through large openings in these thin
partitions, creating fluid relationships between realms of
variable intensities.
Egress, storage and back of house are organized in
a monochromatic zone along the South side of the floors. Its dark
reflective finish bounces daylight deep into the space to emphasize its
extraordinary proportions.