Customer

Moose in the City, a Scandinavian concept store.

Brief

Fashion, lifestyle, travel, design, books and toys. Moose in the City stocks a wide range of Scandinavian brands and products. By combining the collection of Scandinavian products in one shop, the contemporary style/way of life is clearly brought to the fore and put on the map, as it were. The aim of PUUR is to create a shop concept that accentuates this style without veering too far in the direction of kitsch or minimalism.

Strategy

By studying the characteristics of Scandinavia in different areas, we arrived at the common Scandinavian atmosphere and identity shared among the Nordic countries: quality, design, honesty and authenticity. Thanks to these concepts and a lot of visual material, in consultation with the client, we started our quest for the right “look & feel” for the shop on the one hand, and explored the building’s spatial scope, on the other.

The Wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) typology, combined with the feel of a depot was ultimately the premise of the concept. This combination creates a diversity in both objects and products, presented in a clear and open-display system.

End result

Faced with limited funds, we had to be strategic in our way of working. Having said that, the concept store was perfect for this.

The high level of flexibility that was required in combination with a low budget and little storage space resulted in a radical concept that consisted mainly of spatial display structures. The monumentality of the space proved an added bonus in this.

For the design, we drew on artworks by Joseph Beuys and Sol LeWitt, among others. Born from an artistic concept, a spatial structure was created that transcends the ‘retail’ concept architecturally and has its own strong identity.

Because of the low budget, we also strived for standardisation within the frame, as is also the case in museum depots and warehouses, without sacrificing on flexibility.

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Article in De Architect