Half Dose #14: homecouture

A lot of marketing today strives to create a clear image for a company across a variety of scales and media, what is known as Branding. This extends from a company's logo to its merchandise, its advertising (print, TV, radio, billboards), even its architecture. For Raab Karcher's flagship store in Frankfurt Berlin, Germany, homecouture -- a tile and bathroom fittings showroom -- Franken Architekten's solution is a mix of clarity and distortion that nevertheless helps the client "brand" themselves.


Interior

The interior is clean lines, smooth surfaces, and off-white colors that help the colors of the store's logo and products jump.


Plan with Lounge and Consultation areas highlighted

The angles of the plan follow the irregular corner condition of the site. The architects took advantage of the corner by wrapping the storefront facade along the whole perimeter.


View inside

The architects approached the design by thinking of the store as having two facades: the exterior storefront and the interior wall. But instead of using typical clear glass for the former, the architects created what they call a Liquid Wall, where views into the space and the interior wall are distorted.

Links:

:: Franken Architekten
:: Raab Karcher
:: homecouture
:: Europaconcorsi feature with additional -- and much larger -- images