The format of Barthelemy’s first store in the capital of Minas Gerais called for a path: to move through it as a single corridor, organized from one central perspective. This is the premise from which the project emerges. Instead of fragmenting the space, the architecture embraces its linearity and seeks within it a strong idea, connected to the brand and capable of taking advantage of the configuration. The front remains open, while the fitting rooms and other enclosed spaces are set back toward the rear, allowing the entire path to reveal itself from the entrance.
The displays are naturally distributed along the sides, with a few islands at the center of the room. Once the circulation was defined, what remained was to give materiality to the idea. The sides are modulated by panels that reinforce the brand’s language – beach, pool and water. Over them, a band of sand is built, running along the walls from one end to the other, traced like a dune that accompanies the visitor from the beginning to the end of the store. Its execution evokes the technique of bottles with sand landscapes, in which each layer is deposited by hand.
At the point where the sand ends, the blue tiles begin: the beach gives way to the pool. The blue rises up the walls and advances across the ceiling to the lighting cove, enveloping the room like a suspended sheet of water. Between the band of sand and the tiled sky, the product is displayed as if found by the sea.
The modulation makes use of the space’s own structure – defined by the width of the glass panels – to support the display system. Wooden uprights organize the sides and receive metal bars, shelves and support surfaces. The light stone floor and the volumes clad in blue tile and wood form a continuous base for the products. Between sand, sea and pool, the display ceases to be merely a support and becomes part of the brand’s own narrative.