In the heart of Brooklyn NY, this renovated brick industrial structure serves the Williamsburg community as a highly interactive retail environment that doubles as both a sculptural installation and bespoke presentation of Google’s most current products.

The space is organized around a constellation of suspended wooden vitrines, or “Cabinet of Curiosities,” that artfully showcase the store’s offerings inviting customers to engage, learn and explore. These vitrines are made up of a series of highly adaptable componentized boxes that can be quickly edited to house a variety of product display scenarios. Magnets are utilized to attach box inserts allowing for either backlit graphics, vertically mounted products or horizontally laid products—all of which are able to invisibly access power, data and security needs.

The vitrines themselves descend below a triad of existing skylights using the buildings latent potential and providing a glow of natural light in the spaces below. Skylights house lighting that at night remain lit converting the space from a bright interactive day environment to a glowing evening gallery that is easily seen from the popular street.

Supplementing the Cabinet of Curiosities are an array of interaction tables that work in tandem with the vitrines to direct traffic while creating pockets of space for larger groups. The tables bend for circulation and also to enhance both intimate and communal engagement with the products.

The store was developed as a prototype exploration for future stores with a focus on modularity for mass production and flexibility to adapt to different types of spaces. With each future space, the vitrines will gently morph into site specific installations while telling a consistent story through multiple locations. They are intentionally porous so that customers are always visibly aware of the other offerings around them furthering curiosity and engagement.

The retail store was designed to achieve LEED Platinum through many different strategies. Parts of the existing building were reused, FSC certified wood was used throughout, and modular components were developed to keep production and constructability efficient with the ability to reuse many different parts.

Not only did the expression of existing building components keep intervention and the need for new materials low, but it also added to the tactile quality of the space. The design incorporated exposing the existing concrete floor, keeping the existing structure intact, using the existing skylight openings, and exposing the natural brick wherever there was insulative coverage from neighboring buildings.