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Bang & Olufsen Ginza

DDAA

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Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Single-Brand Store
5.11
5.67
4.89
5.22
5.22
Designer
Client
Bang & Olufsen
Floor area
162.38 ㎡
Completion
2019

Design for the flagship store of Bang & Olufsen, an audio-visual brand founded in 1925 in Denmark. The site, located on Namiki-Dori Street in Ginza, Tokyo, is a building completed in 1960 and scheduled to be demolished in two years. It was required to design that would allow users to simulate their own lives in a living room-like space, rather than just experiencing the products themselves. We also aimed to create a space that fuses Tokyo-ness with Danish-ness and the elegant craftsmanship of B&O. The basic layout plan was requested by the brand design team at B&O. The necessary functions of this store are a living room-like space where products are lined up, a meeting room, and a backyard. In a nod to B&O's brand purpose "create timelessly distinctive products that challenge conventions and engage imaginations", DDAA proposed a space where commonalities and contrasts between the culture of Denmark and Tokyo, the latest products and craftsmanship, and vintage furniture and contemporary design can live together. We kept the layout requested by the brand's design team, but instead of laying rugs, we dismantled the floor, placed wirings for the speakers and covered them with glass. The building's renovation history, which has been overwritten since its completion, is visualized like a stratum. Cables, usually hidden inside walls or floors, are carefully wired as if they were on display in a glass case. This glass rug is topped with vintage Danish furniture produced in the same period as the building's completion year. Vintage furniture and contemporary design contrast in the store. Both Denmark and Japan have a culture of woodworking that is rooted in their craftsmanship. A bonsai tree about 60 years old, which further symbolizes the context of the vintage furniture and building, was placed in the center of this store. What is visualized in this space is the historical background and also the "details" based on the craftsmanship. You can see the speaker wiring under the glass rugs. Copper plating was used on the cross braces supporting the structure of the entrance door and the furniture for the bonsai, and on the hardware holding the glass in place. The table in the meeting room is made of transparent acrylic except for the joints, copper plated in order to be the only element visible. On this B&O project, you can see the speaker wire through the glass rug. We covered the ordinary floor with glass like museum. By changing the way you look, the world looks completely different. This kind of perspective shift is called "reframing”. It's a word we often see not only in design, but also in business or lifestyle instruction manuals. Do you see a stain on the wall as a stain or as a pattern? Its a technique to transform the meaning into a positive way with a minimum steps by changing your perspective. On the glass showroom floor, we placed vintage Danish furniture from the 50s and Japanese Bonsai tree which about 60 years old. The contemporary floor design creates a contrast between the original meaning of vintage furniture, such as "classic" and "nostalgia," and the meanings of "modern products and craftsmanship," "vintage and contemporary design," and "Danish and Tokyo design and culture". DDAA’s interest is to design an architectural perspective to equally play with all the diverse concepts and values.In a modern world where things, systems, and economy are developed and saturated, we are trying to create a completely new landscape by slightly shifting interpretation of existing things and ideas. Even the same color, the appearance changes depending on the neighboring ones.This is a common idea in graphic design, but it is also a way to enjoy the buildings and the situations in front of you as much as possible rather than denying them.Designing modest but new perspectives towards products, architecture, cities, and society is also a methodology to enjoy the diverse values and cultures of today.