The North Face exists to celebrate, encourage and enable exploration, and has been making the world's best adventure equipment for 50 years. You’re as likely to see their logo on Everest as you are in Midtown Manhattan. The North Face wanted to bring the richness of their story, the amazing variety of top-shelf alpine gear, and world-class retail design to an elevated context in the world’s most prominent shopping district. They asked SET to capture the attention of global and urban consumers with a flagship retail experience. The store lives inside a modern masterpiece–the landmarked Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust building. This setting was an inspiring challenge–every new component had to be freestanding, and no alterations could be made to the building. Not to mention the Harry Bertoia sculptures that dominate the space. This freestanding constraint became an opportunity when we realized the benefits of mutability that would accommodate changes in products and visual merchandising strategies over time. We collaborated with the brand’s product designers and sample factory to create fixturing and fitting rooms out of the same materials as their expedition tents and merchandised products in commercially-inspired scaffolding that would normally be found on the streets of NYC. Lastly, an immersive nine-foot-tall bouldering wall enabled product trialing and as well as a destination for urban climbers in Midtown.