Tiffany & Co. continues to evolve its retail footprint, debuting a brand new facade for its Palo Alto, Calif., retailer envisioned by acclaimed architect Shigeru Ban.
“When designing, I at all times begin from the placement for context,” Ban defined through a Zoom name from his native Japan. “I proposed a facade which might change appearances and likewise one thing that takes benefit of domestically accessible supplies. Relying on the place you have a look at the facade, you might have three completely different appearances.”
To his level, the award successful architect integrated American oak — native to California — to precise Tiffany & Co.’s connection to the state interspersed with vertical glass slats that may be adjusted to numerous colorways, accommodating completely different seasons, themes or campaigns.
Ban gained worldwide acclaim through the use of unorthodox supplies — corresponding to cardboard and paper — for buildings designed to help catastrophe victims across the globe. The Japanese architect’s résumé is in depth, together with the Centre Pompidou-Metz in Metz, France; Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the Bare Home outdoors Tokyo.
“I needed to make use of the Tiffany Blue otherwise,” he reported of his facade undertaking. “So, I made a zigzag facade: on one aspect we put glass, and relying on the illumination, the glass modifications from Tiffany Blue to completely different colours. That’s one aspect. When you method from the proper aspect of the shop, it seems to have an illuminated Tiffany Blue or different colourful glass facade. When you see the shop from the opposite aspect, it seems to be totally fabricated from American oak.”
Positioned at 149 Stanford Buying Heart, the 6,300-square-foot retail location is expansive. Following the much-anticipated reopening of the Tiffany Landmark earlier this 12 months in Manhattan, Palo Alto marks the newest chapter in Tiffany & Co.’s design evolution and its partnership with world-renowned architects.
The redesigned Tiffany & Co. Palo Alto boutique.
Courtesy Tiffany & Co.
The shop interiors have additionally been reimagined right into a refreshed world of wonders by the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned model’s inside crew, reintroducing its purchasers to a brand new Tiffany & Co., an evolution that displays the home’s design idea born with The Landmark New York. Upon coming into, purchasers are immersed on the planet of Tiffany with a customized Schlumberger Blue Flame paintings, paying homage to the model’s heritage and longstanding collaboration with the designer.
As purchasers journey by the retail expertise, mushy curves and natural traces harking back to clouds on curvilinear partitions create a refreshed elegant and fashionable retail surroundings. Tiffany Blue seems in delicate touches all through the shop, whereas rounded instances in a refined champagne hue showcase an array of signature Tiffany designs.
Additional inside, the Diamond Eye set up greets visitors, composed of an abstraction of aspects of a diamond, a tribute to Tiffany’s heritage as a purveyor of a number of the world’s most interesting diamonds. Within the coronary heart of the shop, a sapphire coloured Lobmeyr chandelier options intricate crystal designs. Rounded selenite instances substitute conventional linear shows, meant to provide purchasers the chance to buy in a extra intimate approach.
Tiffany & Co.’s redesigned Palo Alto boutique.
Courtesy Tiffany & Co.
Inside finishes draw inspiration from archival motif, reimagined in fashionable interpretations of customized plaster and wall finishes, gold cerused wooden accents, blond oak parquet flooring, plush rugs, intricate metallic mesh, in addition to gold-leafed columns.
“I’ve made buildings with facades which are very versatile, to make the most of the pure air flow within the good seasons,” Ban stated of his lengthy listing of award successful areas. “This undertaking with Tiffany is a part of the identical sort of angle, the design can change relying on the circumstances. My dream is making buildings that, like folks, can change their garments relying on the season.”
