UNIQLO MEGASTORE - CURIOSITY / GWENAEL NICOLAS

PROJECT:    Uniqlo Megastore
DESIGN:       Curiosity / Gwenael Nicolas
LOCATION:  Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
DATE:             2009
PHOTO:         Nacasa & Partners Inc.



PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Curiosity has completed the design of the Uniqlo Megastore that has opened near Shinjuku station in Tokyo. The new design is strongly influenced by the Tokyo urban landscape and the large entrance, marked with three display towers, recreates a mini-Shinjuku city. As the lighting floor wraps the towers in a glow of light that illuminates the surrounding streets, the shop becomes an active element of the street: attractive, reliable, and secure. The new Uniqlo Megastore adds a civic dimension to its commercial purpose.

The façade is composed of two surfaces with geometrical lit lines. The lines make the materiality of the facade and architecture disappear so that only the Uniqlo logos remain in the complex maze of neon and information of the virtual city that Tokyo becomes at night.

BORDERLESS ENTRANCE
The layout and angulations of the towers blur the boundaries between the street and the retail space, creating a unique environment in a busy street of Shinjuku.

REFLECTION OF REFLECTION ENTRANCE 
The city seems to have become human scale as you move freely around the three towers. The vertical displays of the entrance are reflected on the mirrored wall creating an amazing gallery of displays, a maze of reflections of reflections, the tower seeming to be inserted within the interior of the shop.

NON EXISTANCE INTERIOR 
The challenge of the interior is for it not to ‘exist’. Only the clothes should be visible. Display furniture is not only reduced to the minimum but also ‘designed’ to be non-existent with materials selected for their immateriality. A lighting ceiling, displays and counters work together to remove the shadows creating an abstract retail environment where products and customers seem to float in a white glow.
 
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