Retail Indicators: Four New Projects Tap Into What's Hot in Fashion and Home Design
BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON
Trina Turk Residential
Palm Springs, California
Phillip K. Smith III | The Art Office | Indio, California
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN ELLIS
 The Trina Turk Residential store in Palm Springs, California, designed by Phillip K. Smith III of The Art Office. Photograph by John Ellis.
Los Angeles–based fashion designer Trina Turk is best known for her vibrantly patterned men's and women's clothing that channels the exuberant lifestyle of 1960s and '70s Southern California. After years of selling her lines to national stores, she opened her own flagship boutique in downtown Palm Springs in 2002, set in a 1953 storefront designed by noted Palm Springs modernist Albert Frey. The airy interior was done in a swanky resort style by Kelly Wearstler. Turk soon also opened a store in Los Angeles, as well as one in New York's Meatpacking District, designed by Jonathan Adler.
More recently, Turk has expanded her offerings to include home accessories and furnishings. To help her create her new Trina Turk Residential store, located next door to her fashion store in Palm Springs, she turned to Indio designer Phil Smith. "Considering the designers Trina's used before on her projects, this was, indeed, an honor," says Smith, whose work ranges from architectural and interior design to public artworks.
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The inviting boutique is located in a 1953 storefront designed originally by Palm Springs architect Albert Frey. |
Turk gave Smith plenty of creative space in which to design something for the small, 950-square-foot storefront along Palm Canyon Drive in the heart of old downtown Palm Springs. The shop was to showcase pillows and other accessories, plus furniture, including pieces upholstered in Trina Turk fabrics.
"Trina gave me a lot of leeway with the project, and not many restrictions," says Smith. "The only thing she noted was that she wanted to be able to move some of her clothing storage from the fashion boutique next door to the back of this store."
Removing walls and partitions from what had most recently been a gallery, Smith moved forward on an idea that would be compatible with her other sunny, bright boutiques. "I made the choice to reinterpret her other stores," he explains. "I also decided to treat this space in a gallery-like way, so that the Trina Turk objects would be showcased."
A white wall is embossed with an interpretation of a Trina Turk pattern. |
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Working with a palette of white and Turk's signature lemon yellow, Smith created a floating, angled wall along one side of the store that leads from the entrance and turns into a framed "structure" for the cash wrap counter. The wall includes lighted niches in which pillows, ceramics and smaller accessories can be displayed. The wall and cash wrap structure are skinned in a glossy white three-dimensional interpretation of a Trina Turk fabric pattern. The cash wrap counter is lit and framed above, creating what Smith calls "another display space" for employees wearing Trina Turk designs. Simple white draperies behind the counter add to the sense of being on a stage. The draperies also screen the storage space, mechanical equipment and a bathroom.
The other side of the store is anchored by a series of floating shelves where more products can be displayed. The shelf system wraps up into a dropped ceiling that contains mechanical and lighting. A micro-fluorescent lighting system makes the shelves seem to glow and hover.
 A floating, angled wall includes display niches and a "framed" cash/wrap counter, where Trina Turk–clad employees are spotlighted.
Smith finished off the store with simple white epoxy flooring and a cluster of 1970s-style globe pendant lights that dangle above the main floor space.
Completed in spring, the new store has allowed Turk the flexibility to do what she does best: change. As furnishings are sold off the floor, the store is constantly being rearranged, giving repeat customers a fresh perspective each time they visit.
Interior architecture: The Art Office, 83-810 Vin Deo Circle, Suite 101, Indio, CA 92201; (760) 342-4111 or www.theartoffice.com.
Contractor: Total Construction, Inc., 78-050 Calle Cadiz, La Quinta, CA 92253; (760) 777-9994 or www.totalgalati.com.
Globe lights: Progress Lighting, www.progresslighting.com.
Unica Home
Las Vegas, Nevada
Eric Strain, AIA | Assemblage Studio | Las Vegas, Nevada
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HENRI SAGALOW
 A house-like structure serves as the showroom's "living room" where furniture and lighting can be displayed.
For numerous years, Unica Home grew its reputation and its business as being one of the few retailers of classic modern home furnishings in the state of Nevada. The store handles everything from jewelry and tableware to lighting and furniture by designers and manufacturers such as Alvar Aalto, Philippe Starck, Alessi, Artimede, Leucos, Herman Miller, Knoll, Eero Saarinen and Mies van der Rohe. In addition to having a showroom presence, a good portion of Unica's business is done online.
When the retailer outgrew its previous Las Vegas locale, the owners asked architect Eric Strain, AIA, and his Assemblage Studio design team, headed by project designer Drew Gregory, to help them create a new retail showroom, as well as office space and a warehouse for their online business.
The owners found a new location in an industrial setting. The building offered 17,000 square feet of space, more than double that of Unica Home's previous location. "Unica Home is the only tenant in this leased building," explains Strain, "and as such, we did nothing to the exterior of the structure. Inside, though, our objective was to create a space that wouldn't overshadow the furniture and objects. Simplicity was the key."
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An orange ellipse anchors the entry space of the showroom and opens to reveal a selection of design books. |
Strain and his team created a floorplan for the L-shaped building that placed the 8,000-square-foot showroom floor at the front, then added 3,000 square feet of office, break room, restroom and conference space toward the back of the plan. At the very back, a capacious 6,000-square-foot warehouse opens onto its own receiving dock. The plan, says Strain, is meant to accommodate 30 to 40 employees.
The showroom itself received much of the design attention. Strain used a museum-like theme, placing furnishings, like precious objects, on pedestals and raised platforms for display. "A lot of the furniture sold here is classic and included in museum collections," explains Strain. "I wanted to play that up."
Strain also wanted to create a sense of intimacy and human scale in the showroom's open, two-story volume and to provide backdrops and settings for furniture vignettes.
Working between a concrete floor plane and an exposed, black-painted ceiling, Strain and the Assemblage Studio team created a series of structures and platforms meant to showcase furnishings. Near the entrance, a freestanding wall plane and platform showcase new arrivals or a featured designer. Away from the entrance, a two-story orange ellipse opens up on one side to reveal Unica Home's books section, featuring numerous tomes on design. A dropped ceiling element is notched into the ellipse and extends to the reception desk and cashier, also a custom design. The largest display element in the showroom is a simple rectangular structure, modeled after a Case Study house. Clients can step up into the "living room," where furniture vignettes are arranged. One-half of the display also includes a lighting studio, surrounded by a wall of polycarbonate panels, creating a glowing effect. Smaller display elements throughout the showroom hold jewelry, tableware and other decorative objects.
 A raised platform and a dramatic wall with the store logo serve to showcase select pieces of furniture as museum-like icons.
The design team stuck to simple materials — the platforms and ellipse are built of painted drywall. Against the neutral gray, white and black of the flooring, walls and ceiling, the ellipse's orange color pops out, as does a wall painted acid green, the color of Unica Home's logo.
The showroom was completed in the summer, and already design-conscious consumers (including design professionals) are making pilgrimages to the new locale. With the simple, minimalistic design, the furnishings stand out like art objects.
Interior architecture: Assemblage Studio, 3281 S. Highland Drive, Suite 808, Las Vegas, NV 89109; (702) 464-5126 or www.assemblagestudio.com.
General contractor: Kalb Construction Company, 5670 Wynn Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89118; (702) 365-5252 or www.kalblv.com.
See Web-only extra images of this project.
G by Guess
Escondido, California
Little | Costa Mesa and West Covina, California
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM ROOF
 A long, wood-clad "runway" design elements leads customers from the front entrance back to the cash/wrap area. The store's muted colors and lighting are meant to be evocative of a nightclub scene and serve to highlight the fashion merchandise.
Several years ago, Guess?, Inc. wanted to update its market by appealing to a younger demographic. The Los Angeles–based fashion retailer came up with a new concept, G by Guess, to appeal to a 17- to 26-year-old age group that came of age after Guess' rise to iconic brand status.
To help them create a store prototype that would embody this new concept and also could be opened in a short period of time at numerous locations across the country, the Guess design team collaborated with Little, a national architecture, interiors and engineering firm specializing in retail, community and workplace design. Little has two offices in Orange County, California.
"The idea was to create a trendy, nightclub-influenced design that embodies a desirable, Southern California lifestyle," explains architect Doug Robidoux, AIA, LEED AP, a Little partner and president of the firm's California offices, who worked with the Little team as well as the Guess store design team that included Brett Horton and Carolina Barzuna. "It was to appeal to a generation used to being in the spotlight."
Robidoux and the design team came up with a theme and materials palette that would be flexible enough to work in retail spaces ranging from about 3,800 to 4,600 square feet, depending on the locale, and could be implemented quickly and in a cost-efficient manner. "We couldn't use products that prevented us from getting stores built in a short period of time," says Robidoux, "and we had to use cost-effective materials and furnishings."
The G by Guess concept, first rolled out in Southern California, includes a catwalk-style design element, darker materials than those used in other Guess?, Inc. stores, nightclub-referencing lighting, vintage-style lounge seating, and graphic and video images of the L.A. lifestyle.
The store's entrance is marked by an overscale, monolithic black pivot door that stands open during business hours, creating a wing wall and logo opportunity that reaches into the mall space. A honey-toned planked-wood "runway" leads catwalk-style from the entrance down the center of the store to the back cash wrap counter, placing customers symbolically on stage. The wood runway element is mirrored on the ceiling, unifying the space. Both the floor and ceiling runways pop out against deep-toned flooring and ceiling materials.
 Retro-style furniture and lighting, plus super-graphics depicting a Southern California lifestyle add to the store's youthful ambiance.
Display fixtures were also chosen for their deeper colorations, reiterating the nightclub-mystique theme, as well as for their flexibility to showcase new merchandise. Ribbed screens toward the back of the store serve as places to display smaller accessories, as well as a signal that customers are leaving the main-floor area for the fitting rooms.
Careful consideration was given to the furniture. "The furniture was chosen for its cool, laid-back retro look," explains Robidoux. Deep chaises and benches invite club-style lounging, while a Sixties-style chair evokes a Mod mood. A mirrored coffee table amplifies and expands a furniture grouping. Upholstery colors stay in the brown tones, with splashes of acid green as accent.
The store walls were covered in black-and-white graphics depicting palm trees and scenes of urban Los Angeles. A video screen behind the cash wrap counter also shows Southern California images, including views of Pierre Koenig's Case Study House.
Lighting was placed carefully to highlight the clothing and accessories, as well as the graphics, and several decorative ceiling fixtures, influenced by mid-century designs, were chosen to add interest to the center of the store.
The completed stores have been a hit with the youthful clientele, and the Escondido, California locale was a particular hit for the design team as well. It won this year's top honors in the Retail Store of the Year design competition, sponsored by Chain Store Age magazine.
Interior architecture and design: Little, 1901 Newport Blvd., Suite 300, Costa Mesa, CA 92627, (949) 698-1401 or www.littleonline.com; and Guess?, Inc.
General contractor: Guess?, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
Structural engineer: KSP Consulting Engineers, 9 Holland, Suite 201, Irvine, CA 92618; (949) 380-3970 or www.kspeng.com.
Fixtures, furniture and ceilings: MG Concepts, 355 S. Technology Drive, Central Islip, NY 11722; (631) 348-1772 or www.mgconcepts.com.
Signage and graphics: Tako Tyko Signs, 5010 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019; (800) 731-6012 or www.takotyko.com.
Wallcovering: Great Big Pictures, 1444 E. Washington, Madison, WI 53703; (608) 257-7071 or www.gbpinc.com.
Mannequins/forms: Fusion Specialties, 2400 Industrial Lane, Broomfield, CO 80020; (303) 460-7700 or www.fusionspecialties.com.
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Therapy
Scottsdale, Arizona
Jeffrey Rausch, IIDA, Haley Balzano, AIA | Exclaim Design | Phoenix, Arizona
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A row of tables, feathery chandeliers and symmetrical display areas lead customers down through the long, narrow boutique. |
These days, downtown Scottsdale is abuzz with hip nightclubs, bars and restaurants, not to mention a well-established gallery scene. For one pair of clients, it seemed like the perfect place to open a women's fashion boutique, aimed squarely at the young and visually aware.
After finding a 1,200-square-foot retail space, the clients came to Exclaim Design, a Phoenix firm founded by interior designer Jeffrey Rausch, which is well known for its work on retail and hospitality projects. "They told us they were seeking an 'urban loft-meets-chic-spa' look," says Rausch, who worked on the project with Exclaim's director of design, architect Haley Balzano. "Our task was to create an energy for the space — without chaos — that would allow the clothes to stand out."
The design team gutted the long, narrow interior, which has had several previous retail incarnations, creating a series of white display spaces along both walls underscored by an espresso-hued, hand-scraped maple floor. A cash wrap area was placed at the back of the store, next to two curtained fitting rooms, while a small office and holding area were located behind the fitting rooms.
Along one wall, Balzano and Rausch created a low, illuminated plexiglass box that runs almost the entire length of the store and protrudes out the front window, drawing customers into the space. The glowing box is a visual cue, meant to add interest on the street side of the store, even after hours, when club-goers are likely to be strolling the sidewalks. "It catches the eye," explains Rausch, "and makes people pause and look in the window."
The plexiglass box is topped by a series of wing walls that divide display areas. The display areas are fitted with interchangeable hooks, racks, rods and shelves that can be rearranged as the owners see fit. The opposite wall of the shop is also fitted with display niches, backed by white, textured panels done in a paisley pattern and finished in a glossy white. A series of simple white tables leads down the center of the store, providing more space to display tee shirts, sweaters and other articles of clothing. "The displays were designed to be flexible," says Balzano, "so that the look of the store could change regularly."
 An image of fashion icon Madonna adds interest to a seating area near the fitting rooms.
Track lighting illuminates the merchandise, while several dramatic, feathery chandeliers add a fashionable touch above the display tables. A white, mid-century-style sofa offers lounging space next to the fitting rooms, where a black-and-white super-graphic of Madonna-as-fashion-icon prevails. A low-key water feature, set in the display area, adds a soothing touch. Even the mannequins were chosen carefully. "They're stylish and have attitude," says Rausch. "You can send them back and have new faces painted on them."
Exclaim Design also worked on the store's graphic package, capitalizing the "HER" in the word "Therapy" for the store logo, signage, bags and more.
Other, more subtle touches round out the store's design. An aromatherapy device puffs ever-changing scents into the air, with matching scent strips available to place in customers' shopping bags. Music is carefully chosen to set the shopping mood, and a video screen shows looping fashion-themed or organic visuals. "We wanted the mood to always change in the store," says Balzano.
Mood changes or not, the project was completed late last year, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The boutique also garnered Exclaim Design a 2008 Retail Design Excellence Award from the IIDA Southwest Chapter's design competition.
Interior and graphic design: Exclaim Design, 2944 N. 44th St., Suite 144, Phoenix, AZ 85018; (602) 795-2929 or www.exclaimdesign.com.
Builder: Chris Schuman, Hands On Labor, Phoenix, AZ; (602) 799-7392 or www.handsonlabor.com.
Flooring: iFloor, www.ifloor.com.
Sofa and counter stools: Eurway, www.eurway.com.
Chandeliers: Icarus by Studio Tord Boontje, www.tordboontje.com.
Display tables: Mella by IKEA, www.ikea.com.
See Web-only extra images of this project.
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