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    Kooo Architects creates Shanghai Freitag store in 1970s textile factory

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    Japanese studio Kooo Architects has converted a 1970s textile factory in Shanghai into a store that aims to capture the ethos of messenger bag manufacturer Freitag.

    Located on an alley in the Xian-Suo district in central Shanghai, the store was designed to retain elements of the former state-run factory while incorporating reused material.
    Kooo Architects aimed to create a pared-back aesthetic utilising few finishes to reduce the fit-out’s carbon impact. Like its previous Kyoto store, the look was partly informed by Freitag’s Zurich warehouse.
    Freitag has opened a store in Shanghai”In order to reduce CO2 emission as much as possible, the building interior does not use any decorational material, and all surfaces and conduits are exposed,” Kooo Architects told Dezeen.
    “In order to achieve a connected, inclusive and transparent environment, nothing is hidden, and there are no interior partition walls either,” it said.

    “Even the storage space is positioned in front of the visitors across all three floors. These spatial characters are highly relevant to the factory spirit of Freitag, and the space is a natural reflection of that.”
    It has a pared-back aesthetic enlivened with pops of yellowWithin the three-storey store, the upper floors contain display areas featuring industrial-looking units and storage spaces, while a large repair shop occupies the entire ground floor.
    The raw atheistic was broken by pops of bright yellow – one of the brand’s signature colours, which was used for the feature stair as well as ladders and a gantry.
    “In order to create an interior space fit for retail purposes, we adopted the white colour for the walls and ceiling and introduced a new skylight above the void space,” said Kooo Architects.

    Freitag store in Kyoto is designed to resemble the brand’s own warehouse

    “Traffic yellow was used for elements related to vertical movement, including staircases, the cargo lift and the ladder,” it continued.
    “The bright factory color not only introduces some playfulness to the architecture but also simply reminds visitors and staff of safety when using these elements.”
    The ground floor was opened up to the alleyTo create the store, the studio opened up the ground and part of the first floor by removing the walls, which are supported on a steel structure.
    While the studio retained many of the bricks, the rest of the waste was ground up to make “rebirth bricks”, which were used for the ground floor paving.
    The store was overclad in steel, which was also used as the hoarding required to enclose the building during the demolition phase of the works.
    The construction hoarding was reused as cladding”We saw the material similarity between the hoarding and our designed deck plate facade, so we decided to use the deck plate as the hoarding material,” said Kooo Architects.
    “In later stages of construction, the deck plate was removed from the hoarding, trimmed to size and reinstalled as a permanent facade material,” it continued.
    “The steel deck plate was galvanised to protect the building against the weather and with a matte finish to avoid harsh reflection of sunlight.”
    A repair shop occupies the entire ground floorThroughout, the design studio and Freitag aimed to reduce carbon emissions by reusing materials and sourcing new materials from within a 100 kilometre radius of the store.
    In total, Freitag and the architects estimated that the measures they undertook reduced its carbon impact by 144 tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared to a standard redevelopment.
    Founded in 1993, Swiss brand Freitag started by creating bags from reused tarpaulins. It recently opened a “micro-factory” where customers could help make their own bags out of recycled tarpaulins.
    The photography is by Studio Fang.
    Project credits:
    Store design: Freitag / Kooo ArchitectsDeveloper: Chengjun FanConstructor: HengpinConcept rooftop: Jody WongGreening rooftop: Forest City StudioFreitag bench design: Leandro Destefani (Zauber Aller Art)

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      Freitag store in Kyoto is designed to resemble the brand's own warehouse

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      Hazard lines and metal shelving are some of the industrial finishes that Torafu Architects has included in bag brand Freitag’s store in Kyoto – which even includes its own workshop.Freitag’s Kyoto store, which is shortlisted in the small retail interior category of the 2020 Dezeen Awards, occupies what was formerly two separate retail units in the city’s Nakagyo-ku district.
      The interiors of the store have been designed by Torafu Architects to look like Freitag’s logistics warehouse at the brand’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

      Top image: the store’s exterior. Above: hazard lines have been painted on some of the store’s surfaces

      Industrial-style details have been incorporated throughout the 80-square-metre space, which the architecture practice said they left in a “skeleton state”. For example, black-and-yellow hazard lines have been painted around one of the store’s structural columns.
      Similar lines appear beneath the green cash desk. Just opposite sits a matching rubber-topped counter where customers will be able to set down and inspect any potential purchases.
      PVC flap curtains were used to screen off the shop’s storeroom, which is enclosed by a volume clad in wood-wool boards. Simple strip lights have also been fitted across the ceiling.

      Freitag’s bags are displayed on metal shelves or stored in drawers
      Bags are displayed on metal shelves or on top of pallets which have been stacked up in the store’s front window.
      Uniform rows of drawers that run across the entire left-hand side of the store contain more Freitag bags, each of which is crafted from recycled truck tarpaulin.
      The brand first removes any eyelets or straps left on the tarps before cutting, washing and turning them into a range of different bag models such as backpacks, totes or holdalls.

      Freitag’s Sweat-Yourself-Shop is a tiny factory for making bags

      Towards the rear of the store is a workshop, where customers will be able to experiment with using tarp offcuts themselves and turn them into a small accessory of their choice.

      The store includes a workshop where customers can make their own accessories
      More industrial touches appear on Freitag’s facade, where a red-steel beam has been installed in place of the wall that once divided the two retail units.
      A large drawing of a truck has also been created on the store’s side elevation so that customers “never forget the origin of every unique specimen”.

      The store’s side elevation features a mural of a truck
      Torafu Architects was founded in 2004 by Koichi Suzuno and Shinya Kamuro. The practice’s Freitag Kyoto store will compete against four other projects in the small interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      Amongst them is an Aesop store in Shinjuku, which features a contrasting mix of steel and plaster surfaces.
      Also on the list is Small Icon, a tiny bakery in Yokohama that’s decorated in the same warm, golden hues as a loaf of bread.
      Photography is by Taichi Ano.

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