38 | AWARDS 2009 Best-Designed Stores of the Year Photo: Ramon Prat First Place Armani Fifth Avenue, New York T he Armani Group’s Fifth Avenue New York flagship has wound its way to the top spot in DDI readers’ eyes for the Best-Designed Store of the Year—a well-deserved recognition for a clean and exquisitely executed concept. Designed by Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas of Rome-based Studio Fuksas, the store’s sculptural grand staircase is the focal point, winding customers through the vertical layers of space in dizzying cadence. A simple color palette—beige for the walls and staircase, glossy black for the floors and ceilings—is highlighted by an exceptional lighting plan designed by Edinburgh, U.K.-based Speirs and Major Associates. The Fifth Avenue store is the company’s first concept shop in which all the Armani product collections are presented in a single space, to include a chocolate bar and restaurant. And yet, the 43,000-sq.-ft. store appears as one fluid entity, evenly spaced among four levels. | September 2009
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - September 2009