Display & Design Ideas - April 2009 - (Page 20)

20 | Design Snapshot Photos: Benny Chan, Fotoworks, Los Angeles Architecture with a twist A sculpted retail façade creates impact at Americana at Brand By Alison Embrey Medina, Executive Editor C omprised of retail, residential, restaurants, cinema and large public areas, the 15.5acre Americana at Brand development in Glendale, Calif., has plenty of treats for the eye. But perhaps none as powerful as the three-story building exterior that houses two levels of the lululemon athletica store. A joint collaboration between developer Rick Caruso of Caruso Afﬁliated and architect Giorgio Borruso of Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based Giorgio Borruso Design, the building adds its own sculptural language in a conglomerate of exterior architecture. The building exterior is composed of several separate pieces, forming a skin that appears to peel away from the central axis toward the two edges, revealing the interior. When viewed from an angle, the symmetrical, geometric construction of the building is fragmented through the protrusion of the FRP composite material “ﬁn” elements in torsion. The visual effect then changes as a viewer moves from one side of the building to the other. “As you reach a point directly in front of the building, everything ﬁnally appears calm and in perfect balance,” Borruso explains. For lululemon’s retail use of the space on the ﬁrst two levels, the storefront had to accommodate a large display window. Borruso’s challenge was to have the appearance of a building that was closed and protected, and at the same time, open and vulnerable, he says. “It was about dematerialization of the horizontally stacked elements that appear to lose weight through torsion,” Borruso adds. Natural light penetrates into the interior spaces, but the effect of the twisting ﬁns ensures that the shape of the light always has a soft quality. “In the transition between light and shadow, there are no hard edges at any hour of the day,” Borruso states. Evening is when the real magic happens, as the interior glows through the twisting façade in a striking, dramatic effect. www.ddimagazine.com http://www.ddimagazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Display & Design Ideas - April 2009

Display & Design Ideas - April 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Consumer Insights
Quick Tips
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Jewelry
Harvey Nichols Jakarta
Historic Renovations
A.R.E. Design Awards
McDonald’s
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

Display & Design Ideas - April 2009