Contextualize

designed in 1999, the renewed bapexclusive™ store in aoyama houses a second floor that has been converted from the bape® gallery into a floor for sneakers. 200mm square tiles govern the design of the space’s first floor, which has remained as the bapexclusive™ store front. the overall design of the space includes stairs with color changing LEDs and an overwhelming number of sneakers. a stainless steel conveyer belt inside an oval glass case, taken from an airport baggage claim conveyer, is used as a display device. as represented by the glass exterior, everything is transparent and visible and seems to be straightforward at this boutique. all the elements katayama has used for this store, including tiles, LEDs, neon signs and carpet are familiar materials. however the arrangement of these materials results in a space no one has ever seen before.

the largest in the nation, NIKE’s first flagship store in tokyo, designed by katayama measures 945.5 square meters. the experienced-based store with facilities such as the runner’s studio – for selecting shoes that match individual’s feet and running style – the NIKEID studio, and an interior layout which appears as if there are multiple sports shops coexisting within sports playground. the design expresses the joy of athletics, by incorporating components associated with sports and which are characteristically NIKE, which include a running track, chandelier made of shoes, hundreds of runner’s bibs and a wall made from the out soles of sneakers. the store is well integrated into its surrounding environment, featuring a dual entrance located on both sides of the establishment which naturally invites consumers or even runners passing by, to come inside.

in katayama’s practice, scale models play an important role throughout his design process as a means of capturing a space before it is built. an traveling exhibition entitled ‘wonderwall archives’ showcases scale models from selection of the firm’s projects ranging from 1998 to the present.

masamichi katayama: wonderwall archives exhibition part 1:

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/masamichi-katayama-wonderwall-archives-exhibition-part-1/

masamichi katayama: wonderwall archives exhibition part 2:

The designers wanted to "offer a tantalising glimpse into the back of the shop", so used exposed concrete walls and plywood to emulate the packing and preparation areas that customers often don't get to experience.

Objects are displayed on plywood plinths and shelving units that are painted white at the top but reveal the material at the bottom.

"We wanted to combine the novelty of the commercial back yard, in which new products arrive straight from the workshop, with the excitement of playing in the back yard at home," said the studio.

The paintwork gradually fades down to reveal the wood grain around the bases of the rectangular stands.

Indulgi

A new shop “INDULGI” designed by nendo opened in Kyoto, Japan. A small clothing shop in Kyoto's Nakakyo district.

The deep, narrow space has good sightlines, but this can be dangerous, too: a shop can look messy and the interior space simply uninteresting if visitors can see all its products in one glance.

We decided to add shielding elements to create a space that could never be seen in its entirety, one in which different elements appear and disappear from view, changing customers' experience of the shop as they move about it.

Walls create an over-strong sense of pressure, and the space already contained a number of doors, so we added even more doors to it. We set the doors open and closed at different angles to control the degree of visibility, and the mix of 'real' and 'fake' doors gives the space a slight sense of surreality.

We added functionality to the 'fake' doors, using them for hangers, shelving and mirrors, and furnished them with fixtures that spill out from inside in different colours and textures to create even more variation in the space.

"I'm not a good sketcher," Sato says. "But it's really the story that's the most important thing for myself. When I meet a new client, if I can't come up with a nice story for them then it's really difficult for me to proceed with that project."

Despite his limitations as a draughtsman, Sato says he still starts every project with a sketch, because he believes it helps him to convey the story behind the design in the most simple way.

"The process is fairly basic," he says. "I start from rough sketches, stupid sketches, and then we move to renderings and models. I have a feeling that when you're a good sketcher, when you draw pictures and sketches in a very beautiful way, it makes the story a bit blurry."

"Since I'm not good at [sketching], it helps me. [They're] really awful sketches, but it has to be something that everyone can understand and I think that's important. The simpler the sketches, the better the story is I think."

Once he has sketched out his initial ideas, Sato says that it is also very important for him to make models of his designs.

"We make a lot of models," he says. "We have three rapid prototyping machines in the studio which work 24 hours a day. We're considering buying one or two more because it's really important to see the form physically."

The key to good design, Sato believes, is simplicity.

"I've been working with Camper for the past few years on their small retail stores," says Sato.

"The concept [for the small stores] was these shoes walking in mid air, showing that Camper shoes are not for running fast or for luxury or things like that, but something to enjoy walking."

However, Sato goes on to explain that designing the interior for the larger New York store located on Fifth Avenue, one of world's biggest shopping streets, was much more challenging.

"Camper asked me a few months ago to find a solution for the big stores that have really high ceilings," he says. "Because the product is obviously very small, we weren't sure how to use the ceiling height. Before they used a lot of graphics on the ceiling but it looked really empty."

Nendo's solution was to completely cover the walls in the store with white plastic replicas of Camper Pelotas, the brand's signature shoe design. The current collections are then displayed amongst these replicas in spaces at the base of the walls where customers are able to reach.

"What it's doing is making the products really stand out - the colours, the forms of the products," says Sato. "It starts from a single product but by copying and pasting it becomes an interior element. It catches a lot of light and shadow and gives a lot of texture to the space."

The protruding shoes also provide an important acoustic benefit, Sato says: "It absorbs the sound so it feels much more comfortable as well."

Sato goes on to explain that he believes physical retail environments are still important, despite the rise of shopping online.

"Just one click on the internet and you can buy any of these shoes from wherever you are," he says. "But I guess it's really the experience of the space that is the most important thing. It's a space that you have to be there, you have to feel something."

Neil Barrett (Tokyo, Japan)

Dunhill Men (New York City, USA)