Al-Jawad Pike

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    Al-Jawad Pike creates marble “immersive experience” for APL’s Soho flagship store

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    British architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike has used colourful marble for the interiors of trainer brand Athletic Propulsion Labs’ second flagship store in Soho, New York City.

    The interior of the 3,900-square-foot space (1,188 square metre) was laid out in a curving amphitheatre design, which the studio designed to be “simple yet severe” while creating a “completely immersive experience,” Al-Jawad Pike studio co-founder Jessam Al-Jawad told Dezeen.
    The centrepiece of the Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) store is five “vanity rooms” in a radial design, each clad in different-coloured onyx or marble stone with matching stone stools and back-lit mirrors.
    The rainbow-colour array of stone, chosen by the client from different quarries, was “intended to represent the five boroughs of New York,” Al-Jawad said.
    Five vanity rooms are each clad in distinctive coloured onyx or marbleA teardrop-shaped column is located in the centre of the store, while boulder-like plinths positioned around the space are used for product displays.

    The textured display plinths were developed with a bespoke fabricator based in New York, who CNC-carved the forms.
    The studio incorporated various other materials into the scheme such as textured sprayed plaster on the walls, Romano travertine for the floor, and champagne-coloured anodised aluminium for the display boxes.
    Al Jawad Pike completed the interiors for Athletic Propulsion Lab’s flagship store in New YorkThe aim of the store layout was to allow customers to see all the products from all parts of the store.
    “We approached this by creating an architectural form that displays the product in a pan-optical array to provide visibility in completeness from almost any part of the store; whilst maintaining a seamless link between staff back-of-house functions at the basement level with the main retail space,” the studio explained.
    The space features a layout designed in a curvilinear amphitheatre styleThe shoes are displayed in simple box frames, which are raised and lit up like artwork in a gallery. Ensuring that the trainers on display were the focal point was a main objective for the architects.
    “The goal was to make sure the products were the main attraction in the store, while also making everything work smoothly for both customers and staff,” Al-Jawad Pike said.
    The studio devised a store layout enabling customers to view all products from any part of the storeThe store’s semi-circular layout has street-facing windows that let in the light, and the studio also added adjustable warm lighting from the back-lit, semi-circular ceiling to provide additional illumination.
    “We wanted to create a wash of light from above to bath the space in a warm and comfortable ambience,” said Al-Jawad.
    “At its top, the perimeter wall banks into a semi-circular, back-lit stretch ceiling with adjustable warmth to dramatically alter the atmosphere in the space.”
    Sculpted boulders are dotted around the store spaceAl-Jawad Pike was founded in 2014 by Al-Jawad and Dean Pike and aims to create spaces that “engender a sense of well-being and intrigue, as well as fun”.
    Other retail interiors recently featured on Dezeen include Bottega Veneta’s Avenue Montaigne flagship store in Paris and Cúpla’s design for a boutique in central London.
    The photography is by Ståle Eriksen.

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      Aesop's London store takes its colour from the red sandstone of Glamis Castle

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      Precast stone blocks coloured with red sandstone from Glamis Castle in Scotland form the walls of this refuge-style Aesop store that architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike has created in a west London shopping centre.The studio designed the small store for skincare brand Aesop to be a retreat from the bustling aisles of Westfield shopping centre in Sheperd’s Bush.
      “We wanted the store to be a refuge from the busy mall environment, it is a sort of building within a building – using genuine masonry construction rather than applied finishes or surfaces,” Al-Jawad Pike co-founder Jessam Al-Jawad told Dezeen.

      Al-Jawad Pike chose to build the walls of the store from precast stone blocks, which enclose the space and create a feeling akin to a walled garden. The curved form of the walls is also meant to reference the undulating brickwork of Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste.

      “The concept was to create a kind of walled garden within the mall,” said Al-Jawad.
      “It was inspired by the ‘crinkle crankle’ wall of the English countryside as well as the structures of Eladio Dieste, which both use an undulating waveform to give rigidity to a single skin of masonry.”

      Earthy tones have been applied throughout the store. Powder from the same red sandstone that was used to make the 17th-century Glamis Castle in Scotland has been used to colour the precast stone blocks.
      The resulting red blockwork walls, which were built using two standard shapes of precast blocks, have been paired with red concrete-tile flooring and a clay plaster ceiling.

      Frida Escobedo segments Aesop Park Slope with rammed-earth brickwork

      “We wanted to use a warm colour to provide a sense of natural earthiness that reflected the red bricks of typical masonry walled gardens, said Al-Jawad.
      “The colour is called Glamis red named after the red sandstone of Glamis Castle in Scotland.”

      Set against the earthy red backdrop, Aesop’s products are displayed on stainless steel shelves. While the main space is broken up by three cast resin sinks that were produced by Sabine Marcelis.
      “We hope we created a calm ambience that enables customers to engage with the Aesop products,” Al-Jawad explained.
      “The hand-washing sinks which are a big part of the customers’ interaction with the product and the sales people are also given centre stage – being made out of honey-coloured resin they also look a bit like big bars of sculpted soap.”

      Aesop often allows its designers to create monotonal stores. For its Sydney store, architecture studio Snøhetta used granite to covers almost every surface, while Frida Escobedo used rammed-earth brickwork throughout its store in Brooklyn. Bernard Dubois also clad the walls of the brand’s Brussels store in distinctive yellow Belgian bricks.
      London-based Al-Jawad Pike was established by Al-Jawad and Dean Pike in 2014. The studio has previously used pigmented concrete blockwork for the exterior and interior of a south London home extension and combined brick, concrete and timber for an extension to a home in Stoke Newington.
      Photography is by Ståle Eriksen.

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