At XTRA’s new premises at Marina Square, the space selected for the Herman Miller shop-in-shop is a 20m long by 7m wide space with a lofty headroom of 8m. However, the headroom dips to a low 3m at the entrance. We imagined a sail-like continuous plywood surface stretched across the entire site, taking reference from the earlier minimal surface soap film experiments of Frei Otto. Reminded of Herman Miller’s attempt of shaping an elastic mesh to “mould” against the human body, we looked into the traditional tailoring technique that shapes fabric to the body – the use of “darts” which is a method of material addition and subtraction. We wanted to test the possibility of shaping large full-sized pieces of plywood using darts – simply by removing material and closing up the slits. The new Herman Miller shop-in-shop is a fabric-like plywood surface that appears to be casually pulled across the entire 8m volume. The rippling on the surface increased the “softness” the plywood making it appear to be stagnant in the wind. The circular cut-outs allowing for tolerance on the surface, along with the cable ties and rivets are signature of this material system expressing its intuitive mechanical workings. The overall ambience is one akin to a bazaar where simple tent canopies are pulled across the street. Alongside the Herman Miller structure, the design for the rest of space in XTRA followed the idea of pop-up stores in a bazaar creating a more approachable and casual atmosphere.