We’ve seen Stainless Steel get used in just about every situation on this website, but never before in a clothing store! Japanese studio Hayao Odagiri Architects have just completed work on a three storey building for the Mikage Shin Aoyama clothing store in Tokyo.
The store layout, which consists of two reinforced concrete upper levels and a subterranean floor, also houses the fashion brand's offices. Conceptually, Hayao Odagiri decided to move away from the traditional method of creating shopping displays, and instead installed curved stainless steel tubes that flow and warp around the shop. The final result is both functional and organic at the same time.
Within the Mikage Shin Aoyama store, the team at Hayao Odagiri Architects used 40 metre lengths of Stainless Steel that were 25 millimetres in diameter. This allowed the clothing display to structurally stand on its own whilst weaving its way through the store. These Stainless Steel ‘tubes’, change in height and curvature, serving different functions - from clothing racks to window displays.
"The curves respond to human presence, the flow of air, and the weight of clothing, expressing the strength and delicacy of the material throughout the space. The intention is to create a design that harmonises with the brand’s worldview by embodying the robustness and subtlety of the material in response to the nuances of human presence, airflow, and the weight of clothing," said Hayao Odagiri Architects.
If you have a bespoke project that requires something like a 40 meter long Stainless Steel hanging rail... please get in touch for a quote. In the meantime, did you hear about the Stainless shirt that went on sale? It was a Steel !
And why not check out our other Stainless Steel architectural posts: