What is an upcoming streetwear brand to do in a hyper-commercial and conformist place? When Lumi3re saw its chance to expand its presence with a 75m2 store in The Hague in a luxury mall, it was the question to actually do it, or not.

The goal of this project was to bring anarchy into the shopping mall - a bold kind of confidence that is understood by its generation and disregarded by the rest. We choose nót to conform to the rules of frictionlessness that govern shopping mall commercialism. To do so a tilted 7x5x1m volume, blocking the entrance to the store, was created as a Dadaist statement – an ironic comment on commercial conventions.

Interesting about the site; the façade front surface is nearly as large as the stores surface. This provided the opportunity to squeeze in a giant obtrusive monolith, tilted in all three directions. The small sized signing amplifies its scale and combined with an anodized skin it becomes a landmark statement. The slanted volume values curiosity over bland convention: passing the skewed entrance is an act of courage. Once inside one is pleasantly isolated from the noise of the shopping mall, as the giant volume forms a visual plus acoustic barrier as where the carpet and sound absorbing rough walls contribute to this aural transformation.
The store with its giant tilted anodized aluminum volume, a heavy aluminum central solid, a large mirror circle and the bright orange light fixture is a composition of monolithic features. The central volume hides multiple functions such as storage and check-out but basically allows for undisturbed personal contact with customers.

The space is cut at eye sight into a heavily textured upper and a refined lower part – the raw top contrasts the clean volumes below, which act as a neutral plinth to display and create focus on the product.

• Location: Mall of the Netherlands Den Haag, Netherlands
• Project in collaboration with StudioFriso
• Photography: Maarten Willemstein

photography: Maarten Willemstein