Lousso M&W

Arachova, Greece

Add To Collection

Other Projects by ADD

Add To Collection

L'Escalier concept store

Lousso M&W

Arachova, Greece

Firm

ADD

Type

Commercial › Retail Showroom

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2016

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$0 - 10K

ADD design two sibling stores in Arachova, Greece
In an interval of one year, Athens-based studio ADD was commissioned to design two retail spaces.
The former concerned the turning of an abandoned storage space into a boutique-concept store. The latter revolved around offering a new and strong identity to an existing clothing store.
Our effort was driven by the desire to form a common architectural dictionary shared between the two spaces, thus creating a kind of an open dialogue while satisfying the unique programmatic needs of each space.
The proximity of the two stores along Arachova’s central promenade axis favors the aforementioned strategy. Visitors and by-passers conceive the two spaces as consecutive stops during a single walkthrough the stores of Arachova. The similarity of the design imprint creates the desire to visit both.
The design concept of each store is complementary to each other.
The use of steel as the key material of the design concept marks the common identity shared by the two stores. The similar light patterns create a distinctive atmosphere through the surgical use of LED tapes.
Finally, the carefully designed movement routes reveal a dipolic case study: the former store favoring the customers’ linear stroll whilst the latter enclosing the visitor into a nautilus-like wandering.

Lousso M&W
The conversion of a neutral clothing boutique into a space that has its own recognizable identity. In order for a dominant concept to emerge, all clothing items were re-positioned so as to cover the perimeter walls. The center of the space was conceived as a catwalk generated through the use of a central hanging structure from which the hangers are suspended. The customers walk through this kind of “passarella”, entering and exiting it, through the “new arrival” hanging clothes’ intervals. The main interval, opposite the boutique’s entrance, frames the existing masonry wall, facilitating the customers’ move towards the far end of the boutique. This wall, as well as all the rest of the perimeter walls, bear newly placed steel selves, enhancing a sense of continuity and enclosure. The latter is accentuated by the shape of the roof structure: an arc emitting diffused light which unconsciously guides the costumers’ footsteps as they stroll around the virtual geometry generated by the hangers’ positioning.