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Architects: Kennedy Nolan Architects
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Sean Fennessy
Text description provided by the architects. As part of a major refresh of the Up There brand, Kennedy Nolan was asked to design a new flagship store on Flinders Lane – a street synonymous with innovation, design, hospitality, and fashion. The brand refresh provided immediate inspiration, providing a playful palette of saturated color. We were inspired by the distinctive space: partially subterranean and characterized by a deep plan opening up at its farthest point to the atmospheric urban gloom of Sargood Lane.
Alongside our Clients, we set out a brief for a store interior to be theatrical, cinematic, abstract, curated, expansive, and memorable. We proposed an intense green ground plane. Green is a key color for Up There but is also a color we feel is oddly grounding – resonant of a grassy field. The ceilings are an inky green, helping to de-limit the edges by plunging them into shadow. Merchandise is organized into discrete zones, a ‘concession’ approach that reflects some key characteristics of the brand – curating and displaying stock in themes, providing scope for collaborations, events, and exclusive releases.
Up There want to be a good host to their customers – as such, there is an emphasis on places to hang out in the store. While all spaces are social, at the very end of the store there is a large table and generous banquettes; a spot to try on some trainers, have a coffee from the in-house café or patiently lie on the banquette willing your friend to make a decision, or regret the night before.
Upon entering, the customer is greeted by a flight of three steps with a tactile surface, signaling the entry into another state by altering the sensation underfoot and delivering them to the soft floor plane of carpet. From there, they move through a gathering of suspended bust forms and emerge into the store proper.
