Fashion brands are increasingly turning to architects to shape their identities for the future. Whether it's Camper enlisting Shigeru Ban to create its pavilion in Miami, or G-Star Raw calling on OMA to design its new HQ in Amsterdam, these collaborations are growing in scope and ambition - as documented in our September issue.
And if there's one practice that never falls out of fashion it's OMA. The Rotterdam-based group - known for its ongoing partnership with Prada - has now been signed up by American leather brand Coach, which has challenged the team to design a revolutionary retail display prototype for its New York and Tokyo stores.
'We wanted [to create] a system that could tell the story of any of Coach's wide repertoire of products, whilst projecting the legibility of its original stores,' says OMA partner and project leader Shohei Shigematsu. To this end, the practice has devised a new concept that restores Coach's original, library-like organisational display systems, diluted in recent years, with a modular translucent grid, which can be adjusted to any interior. 'These units can also enclose spaces for program or curation and, by creating enclosures, they can also act as façade,' the architect explains.
Coach's creative director Reed Krakoff, whose own Manhattan atelier is a veritable gallery filled with inspirational design (see W*156), commissioned the 'logical system', to debut at Coach's concession at the newly renovated Macy's at Herald Square in September. Next Spring he will take it to Coach's new multi-level flagship in Tokyo's Omotesando, designed by - who else? - OMA.
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‘Irving Penn: Centennial’ offers an unparalleled look at the seminal American photographer’s oeuvreA new retrospective in A Coruña, Spain celebrates the meticulous grandeur of Irving Penn, spanning fashion editorial, still-life, nudes and portraiture across seven decades
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Inside Luna Luna: the amusement park designed by artists lands in New York‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’ – featuring rides by Basquiat, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Haring, and Dalí – has opened at The Shed
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Why champagne pairs beautifully with fine foodMaison Krug unites champagne with decadent cuisine in the latest edition of its ‘Single Ingredient’ adventure, in collaboration with globally renowned Michelin-starred chefs who enhance the flavours and aromas of Krug Grande Cuvée or Krug Rosé
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Raw, refined and dynamic: A-Cold-Wall*’s new Shanghai store is a fresh take on the industrial lookA-Cold-Wall* has a new flagship store in Shanghai, designed by architecture practice Hesselbrand to highlight positive spatial and material tensions
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The Lantern cultural hub in Detroit by OMA balances ‘light touch’ and ‘dramatic impact’Library Street Collective’s Lantern, a new cultural hub in Detroit, was designed by OMA New York and is a signature rebuild that makes the most of the site’s existing structures
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Christian de Portzamparc’s Dior Geneva flagship store dazzles and flowsDior’s Geneva flagship by French architect Christian de Portzamparc has a brand new, wavy façade that references the fashion designer's original processes using curves, cuts and light
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Buffalo AKG Art Museum opens, inviting us into its OMA-designed homeBuffalo AKG Art Museum opens its new, OMA-designed home in the USA
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Factory International by OMA is set to be a moveable feastFactory International by OMA is a Manchester cultural centre designed to break barriers between audience and performer
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Store concept by David Chipperfield Architects for Akris is simply ‘selbstverständlich’An ethereal new store concept by David Chipperfield Architects for Akris is rolled out from Washington to Tokyo
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Rinascente is reborn in Rome’s Piazza Fiume courtesy of design studio 2050+Rinascente in Piazza Fiume, Rome gets a makeover by Milan-based interdisciplinary design agency 2050+
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Buffalo AKG Art Museum by OMA looks to the futureThe Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) is reborn with a striking OMA-designed extension, site-specific installations, and a new focus on the local community
