LOFT Store
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Scope: Design & Supervision
Year: 2017
Status: Complete
Team: Khalid Henaidy, Asia Khan, Ahmed Frehat, Tahir Tuffaha, Abdulrahman Abdullah
Briefing:
To transform a 7000 sq.m shell and core store into a furniture retail store following the design space branding guidelines set by the previous 2 design concepts developed for the Loft store.
Architectural Solution:
To ensure that each furniture setting could be sufficiently isolated from other setting, the store’s main commercial area was fragmenting into a sequence of museum like contained displays, organized by free standing partitions on elevated stages that determine well defined visiting paths within the store.
The partitions will allow for a multitude of scenographic backdrops allowing for each display to be discovered by visitors sequentially without excessive visual interference allowing for each display to fully exhibit its uniqueness.
All platforms, partitions and infrastructure were organized following a geometrical grid based on the optimal size for the furniture settings that ensures an effective integration of all the store’s elements despite its apparent complexity.
To eliminate the abrupt transition between the main double height area of the store and the area under the mezzanine located at the back of the store, some large openings were inserted in the mezzanine structure, partly transforming it into a bridge like structure that overlaps the ground floor displays.
Freestanding sculptural staircases and a freestanding lift are intended as reference points that further strengthen the connection between the store area on the ground floor and the store on the mezzanine level.
