Commercial

Acne Studios – Horatio Street

With this location, the Stockholm-based fashion house Acne Studios was launching its innovative retail design concept in the United States. Having completed the New York home for Acne Studios’ executive chairman, we were asked to work with Sophie Hicks Architects (London) on the design of the West Village store.

The site was originally three small stores that Acne Studios demolished to create one large space. The clean, minimal aesthetic is articulated with a glass and stainless steel store front, custom stainless steel millwork, and custom curved translucent glass walls for the lighting. These refined materials contrast starkly with the raw natural concrete floors, and the minimal architecture highlights Acne Studios merchandise.

“The stores are a great back drop for our clothing, shoes, and accessories,”
says Mikael Schiller Executive Chairman for Acne Studios.

Acne Studios – Madison Avenue

Madison Avenue is the global flagship store for Acne Studios. Having previously completed Acne Studios’ Greenwich Village store, we were asked to work closely with the label’s in-house design team to realize the vision for this uptown location.

The Madison Avenue store is Acne Studios’ only store to feature gold as its signature tone. The metal interior walls and fittings in aluminum have been electrostatically gilded. The black asphalt floor and structural pillars are dotted with semi-precious colored stones. The storefront is entirely wrapped in glass, which curves at the corner.

A custom LED ceiling, which was fabricated in Paris, creates a glowing element throughout the entire store. The “rough” custom furniture designed by Max Lamb acts as a strong counterpoint to the more refined gold finishes and jewel-studded asphalt floor and columns. “For me,” Creative Director of Acne Studios Jonny Johansson says, “it was important to elevate the store design into something spectacular since the location demands it in a way.”

 

Frame

For Frame’s first store in New York, founders Erik Torstensson and Jens Grede wanted a blend of NY, LA, and Swedish inspirations and styles. “For each of the stores, we try and design to the relationship that we and Frame have with the city we are in,” Torstensson told Architectural Digest.

In New York, the design expression is “harder, tougher, more speedy, and more high-end when it comes to fashion” according to Torstensson. To reflect this belief, the project uses such elements as off-white stone tile flooring, massive black and white marble display tables and a “statement” weathered metal table that was built in Sweden and left outside to weather for a year.

The design intentionally contrasts high and low, old and new, and soft and hard elements. “A store is an opportunity to educate new consumers on how to use Frame—what are our silhouettes, and how do you put it together, says” Grede.

Bortolami Dayan

This one-story gut renovation transformed a derelict automotive garage into a sleek, minimal Chelsea art gallery. With 20-foot ceilings and four new skylights, we introduced plentiful but controlled diffuse daylight throughout the large exhibition space.

Construction began with a completely unfinished floor plate and involved all new infrastructure, mechanical, electrical, lighting and fire protection. We outfitted the gallery with custom workstations and carefully selected furniture to complement the minimalist aesthetic.

Luxembourg & Dayan

We converted this multi-family townhouse into a multi-story art gallery and office by stripping the existing building back to the shell and creating four floors of gallery space, with a top floor kitchen and cellar storage. Construction included the stabilization of a rear two-story addition; all new roofing and skylights; new building systems including mechanical, electrical and fire protection and passenger elevator. We installed a new oak stair with custom steel balusters and oak handrail from ground to top floor.

Guggenheim Technical Services Building

This project involved the conversion of an eight-story, warehouse into a state-of-the-art technical services and art storage facility, which included custom facilities for art preparation, conservation, photo archive, darkrooms, and carpentry shop.

Because the warehouse had been abandoned for many years, substantial alteration and restoration of the exterior masonry envelope were required. All existing window openings were revised—either filled in or re-cut into the existing masonry exterior. A new roof, loading dock, and freight elevator were built.

We provided museum-quality climate control for all art storage and art preparation spaces, which led to a holistic solution for the entire building: vapor barriers at all exterior walls; careful natural light control through window films, shading and artificial lighting filters and screens; humidification and dehumidification systems and controls; and dry-pipe fire suppression sprinkler systems.