The Herman Miller shop-in-shop located at XTRA’s new premises in Marina Square is a 20-m-long by 7-m-wide space with a lofty headroom of 8 metres. Near the entrance however, the headroom dips to a low 3 metres. The structure is imagined as a sail-like continuous plywood surface stretched across the entire site, referencing the earlier minimal surface soap film experiments of Frei Otto.

Reminded of Herman Miller’s attempt to ‘mould’ an elastic mesh to the human form, we looked to 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 8-metre volume. The rippling on the surface increased the ‘softness’ the plywood making it appear to be stagnant in the wind. The circular cut-outs ensure stability of the surface, along with cable ties and rivets, which are integral to 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.