Located on Hernán Cortés Street, in one of the best shopping areas of the city of Valencia, Chapeau is presented as a multi-brand store of reference that conveys the values of the avant-garde and design firms that are exhibited in it.
At the beginning of the project, the local had certain difficulties, which had to be considered and studied in order to minimize their presence. As a starting point, they had a series of large columns, lacking height, loose beams and little natural light, due to the depth of the local.
As a result, a family of geometric elements was raised, to bring order into the space and provide identity to the project. This concept consists of a set of pure geometries: prisms, planes and lines, which link all scales of design, from the architecture to the detail of the furnishings and resolve the project at all levels.
Compositionally, the project is defined by the use of pure geometry, represented in three categories: prisms, tester mirrors and volumes of white light, used as display cases ; planes , metal sheets inclined to collect the visitor and lead it towards the back of the store, where they are transformed into angled sheets of glass that form the skylight; lines, fine pieces used for the hangers and display cases and is also materialized in the the form of split broken planes and generating edges.
The visitor’s experience consists of a journey through a sequence of scenes. Begins with a large canopy of black steel, illuminated by a few strips that frame the glass facade of the store.it presents the independent access for men and women, as scenarios where the exhibited collections is exposed. There is no defined window display, but that this is diluted and invades the space of the store. This idea is reinforced by the incorporation of large LED screens, on which are projected the compositions of art videos produced for Chapeau by Javier Santaella, as well as parades of the signatures displayed in the large international catwalks.
This store tour is marked by long inclined planes accompanying the customer that tie up the whole space into one long unit which can accommodate the services without losing height. Then, a series of pieces invade the shop, emerging from the walls, serving as display cases, or from the ground, as the counters of stone, which function as the connection between the men and women area. Once the two sections are united, there is access to the display area, located at the edges, and the fitting room area, in the central part. The display area is provided by backlit planes at different depths, which accommodate the hangers. The fitting rooms are a combination of misaligned mirror prisms, looking to dissolve, through the combination of reflections and backlit plane.
The tour ends in a wide area of double-height display cases, covered by natural light from a large skylight, formed by a structure of black steel and a glass angled in different proportions, which allows light to flood the core of the store. A background of black mirror of great height points to the end of the store, subtly reflecting the rest of the spaces, expanding the proportions of the entire store.
This formal language is embodied in tones of white, grey and black to achieve the ideal atmosphere where displaying a product of the highest quality, in an attractive play of reflections, shadows and lights.
Furthermore, the vitality and heterogeneity of this composition turns the space into a canvas for the shown clothing collection . A canvas that has identity for itself, and at the same time provides space for a single product, in order to give the appropriate value to each signature.