A Photo Essay about Gensler's unique design for an REI retail store
Gensler's took the opportunity in it's interior design of the new Boulder, Co REI store to reflect the company's commitment to sustainability and love for nature - inspiring customers to outfit their next great adventure. I really like this case study because the images of the interiors actually illustrate how a concept can guide the layout of a retail space. The photograph with the midfloor fixtures features a prime example. The fixtures are all substantially sized, typically two-sided so products can be displayed on both the front and the back, encouraging people to walk around them. If you look at the path created by the floor fixtures it is much like that of a nature trail, gently winding about a fixed obstacle like a large tree or boulder. In the same way, customers can slow down, wind about the store and look more intently at the product, browse through the racks, and really be immersed in the store.
Here the "linger factor" is key. There are level changes and natural lighting and information areas - an abundance of information to help educate as well as inspire. The graphics in the space are used wisely. Large black and white panaoramic photos are broken into panels and placed in the clothing areas where the compartmentalized overhead shelving would be - drawing the eye upward to the items in those shelves as well as creating inspiring vistas.
Unlike the Sincere retail locations, daylighting here is necessary to the whole atmosphere of the store. Light wells and skylights bring in daylighting at the same time as cutting down on energy consumption and photovoltaic capture solar power for reuse.
There is a whole forest of two-dimensional trees that surround you, serving as screens between rooms, wall art, and sculptural doors and entryways. An abtsracted motif appears in patinaed steel - a warm, earthy color. Those same trees occur in three dimensions as background or context in the manequin stands. In another place, more photo-realistic trees are etched into the glass. In the front entrance two mamoth abstract "tree trunks" span from floor to ceiling, far overhead. They are impressive and beautiful and make a statement about what is about to come as soon as you enter the store.
As far as I can tell, there isn't any color on the walls. None. Yet the place is vibrant with pattern and texture, and the fixtures themselves are honey-colored woods and the product creates an overall color scheme- or atleast a rainbow of options. Product is grouped presumably according to male, female, function, style, and then color, and size. This creates a natural order yet a few small signs built into the cases might provide more info, but they are minimal at best.
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