Conde Lumiares drugstore / Mobil M

Architects: Mobil M
Location: Alicante, Spain
Architect in Charge and interior design project: Daniel Ferrer (YTRASD) for Mobil M
Graphic identity and furniture: Mobil M
Photographs: Pelut i Pelat

The Conde Lumiares drugstore has nothing to do with what we usually understand as a traditional pharmacy. But it was not always like this: the old shop had a suspended ceiling all the way long that reduced the available space to it’s half. You can guess the consequences: no light at all, a suffocating atmosphere and little presence of the shop window from the outside.

After the alteration of the business, the 2-meter height became 5. And the improvement has been a benefit not only for the employees but also for the customers: the personal attention has been extended; a second floor keeps the laboratory, the warehouse and the professional training… But winning so much space has also allowed the studio to create an individualized design. The architect thought that keeping the ceiling at 5 meters high was too much: the customer could feel unprotected. That’s why he created a suspended cylinders system (2, 3 and 4 meters long) that dialogue with the central gondola. It is this dialog between the 256 tubes and the gondola that gives an absolutely personal identity to the shop.

In fact, the impact begins in the outside: the shop window is single pieced, 5 meters high, and makes it really easy to see all the interior from any angle when you are in the street.

Nothing, not even the pharmacy cross, was to be conventional. For the logo design, MOBIL M studio was inspired by a grid formed by 9 circles that converge in a cross symbol. The objective was to create a dynamic image, minimalist but also communicative. The graphic identity plays with grey ranges and magenta so as to create a contrast with the pure white of walls and furniture. Always searching for complete harmony between the graphic and the architectural concept.

The boundless high triggered a brand new creation in pharmacy world. Just to show that ideas are what matters in the end.