’Raw Architecture’: inside Balenciaga’s latest opening in Hamburg, Germany

‘It looks like we found the perfect location in the middle of the city that was already stripped down, and we’ve just added some appliances, lights, and new elements. But of course that wasn’t the case,’ Berlin-based practice Sub – made up of art director Niklas Bildstein Zaar and architect Andrea Faraguna – told Wallpaper* last year of its design for Balenciaga’s Bond Street flagship in London. 

Then, it was the latest in the house’s ‘Raw Architecture’ concept, which sees new and renovated Balenciaga stores designed in purposefully stripped-back manner, as if the shopper is stepping into an abandoned warehouse or multi-storey car park (as such, exposed concrete and polished cement are some of the key materials of the concept). The project was inaugurated by current creative Balenciaga director Demna, who says that the idea is to reevaluate what he calls the ‘codes of luxury’.

Balenciaga’s new store in Hamburg, Germany

Opening today (April 17 2023), a new store from the house in Hamburg, Germany continues the ‘Raw Architecture’ concept with a 540-square meter space located on Neuer Wall, a 1.2-kilometre stretch of luxury retail in the city’s inner-city Neustadt district. Deemed by Balenciaga as an ‘atemporal’ setting – its interior is devoid of references to particular eras – the cavernous store is largely made from concrete, painstakingly treated to appear as if it has been corroded through time and use. Patinated treatments have been used on the store’s surfaces ‘suspending the interior in a state of conditionality’, while walls are left unfinished or worn away to reveal a previous raw material beneath. 

Other elements in the design include an exposed ventilation system – like those found in warehouses, or other industrial spaces – and a metal staircase, evocative of those installed in ‘areas for delivery and assembly’. Even sets of grey velvet curtains, housed behind glass, have been treated to look like they have had water damage, while aluminium tables are stained in a technique which lends them the look of having been left outside in the elements. An aged cement floor ‘resembles a construction site, ‘bridging coded elements of public and private spaces’.

The store will house nearly all of Balenciaga’s product offering, including men’s and women’s ready-to-wear, shoes, bags, accessories, jewellery and eyewear, displayed largely on polished, underlit shelving. Floor-to-ceiling mirrors and digital screens showing recent Balenciaga content complete the space (the latter ‘punctuating the vacated effect with modernity’). Furniture includes a ‘Balenciaga Bench’ by Dutch designer Tejo Remy for Droog Design, whereby vintage and deadstock Balenciaga fabrics in recognisable prints are stacked to create seating (its addition is part of Balenciaga’s ongoing ‘Art in Stores’ project).

Balenciaga say that beyond its aesthetic purpose – which coincides with Demna’s vision for the house’s collections – the ‘Raw Architecture’ concept also has a marked effect on the amount of virgin materials used to create or renovate existing stores. It was first introduced in London’s Sloane Street store in 2021, and has since been utilised in locations around the world.

Balenciaga Hamburg, Neuer Wall 20, 20354, Hamburg, Germany

balenciaga.com