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Aesop Daimaru Shinsaibashi

Case-Real

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Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Single-Brand Store
5.00
6.29
5.57
4.64
5.38
Lara Francis El Hani
Lara Francis El Hani Senior Manager Interior Design – Head of Department at Kling Consult
3.61
5.78
4.17
5
4.64
Shamsudin Kerimov
Shamsudin Kerimov Founder at Kerimov Architects
5
6.33
4.32
5.21
5.22
Carmelo Zappulla
Carmelo Zappulla CEO at External Reference
5.5
7
5
5
5.63
Jukka Halminen
Jukka Halminen Founder and Creative Director at Design Office Koko3
2.81
5.98
3.8
4.99
4.4
Agata Kurzela
Agata Kurzela Founder and Design Director at Agata Kurzela Studio
5
7.5
6
5
5.88
Mireia Luzarraga
Mireia Luzarraga Cofounder at TAKK
3.94
4.16
4.01
3.35
3.87
Javier Guzman
Javier Guzman Cofounder at Zooco Estudio
4.01
4.89
3.85
4.49
4.31
Louisa Fan
Louisa Fan Director of Design Luxury and Lifestyle Brand at IHG ® Hotels & Resorts
5.3
6.3
5.6
5
5.55
Alex Mok
Alex Mok Cofounder at Linehouse
3
5
3.5
3.5
3.75
Rahul Bansal
Rahul Bansal Architect at group dca
2.43
5
3.57
5
4
Anette Skeie
Anette Skeie Head of Design at Norco Interior
5
7
5
5
5.5
Lori Ferriss
Lori Ferriss Executive Director at Built Buildings Lab
4.23
6.39
4.4
2.82
4.46
Leali Ezzat
Leali Ezzat Founder and Design Director at ELE Interior
3.53
3.69
4.09
3.85
3.79
Allen Zhou
Allen Zhou Founder at Shengtang Shijia Design Studio
6.06
6.31
6.39
6.47
6.31
Vineeta Singhania Sharma
Vineeta Singhania Sharma Founder at Confluence
5.99
7.15
6.73
7.02
6.72
Ziwei Guo
Ziwei Guo Founder and Director at Pure Design
4.5
5
4.5
5
4.75
Yang Yan
Yang Yan Founder and Chief Architect at y.ad studio
4.5
5
4.5
4
4.5
Designer
Client
Aesop
Floor area
89.94 ㎡
Completion
2019
Design Assistant
Construction
Photo
Courtesy of Aesop

Retail projects within new buildings tend to focus solely on the novelty and branding of the store and exclude the context of the space as a planning element. In this project, although the site is a tenant in a new building, we tried to incorporate the context which the building was rebuilt and the historical time of the site as elements of the store, so that past and present time coexist. With the need of seismic strengthening, the dismantling and re-construction of Daimaru Shinsaibashi started in 2016. The former building was designed by W.M Vories, an architect who came to Japan first as an evangelist but also left many works such as schools, churches, second houses. The former Daimaru Shinsaibashi building which was built in 1933, was known for its luxurious Neo-gothic style with stained glass works, octagon shaped pillars, and other geometric Art-deco decorations. Upon designing the Aesop store in Daimaru Shinsaibashi, we aimed to create a place where people can feel the philosophy of Vories. For main materials, we selected the dark brown wood. The granite, the subdued color plaster and copper plates were added to the design palette to coincide with the main materials. Throughout the plan and the overall composition of the space, we used and applied a typical shape seen in many works of Vories, the octagon. “Eight” in the holy bible is an important number with the meaning “resurrection”.  “Eight” in the holy bible is an important number with the meaning “resurrection”. Christ resurrected from on the eighth day, showing his self present in front of his all his disciples including Thomas. As a devout christian, it is unclear today what feelings Vories had while designing Dimaru Shinsaibashi. However, our wish is to inherit various elements from the history, and to re-construct them into a new shop experience through our store design for Aesop.