Prada Store New York
50 W57th Street New York
2001
Rem Koolhaas Architect / OMA


Prada New York photo: Armin Linke, from OMA 270307

Contact Prada Store New York: 212 307 9300

Comments re Prada New York welcome

Prada New York architects - OMA

PRADA NEW YORK EPICENTER

Project: Prada New York Epicenter
Status: Commission 2000. Completed 2001
Client: Prada (I.P.I. USA Corp.)
Location: 575 Broadway, New York
Site: Space of former Broadway Guggenheim, Ground Floor and Basement
Program: New Epicenter store: 2.190m2

Partners-in-charge: Rem Koolhaas, Ole Scheeren
Project Architects: Timothy Archambault, Eric Chang
Team: Ergian Alberg, Amale Andraos, Benjamin Beckers, Christina Chang, Chris van Duijn, Alain Fouraux, Jenny Jones, Julia Lewis, Christiane Sauer, Markus Schaefer, Oliver von Spreckelsen

Associate Architect: ARO
Structure: Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA)
Services: Arup New York
Lighting: Kugler Tillotson Associates
Material R&D: Panelite / Werkplaats Vincent de Rijk
Acoustics: Shen Milsom & Wilke
Curtains: Inside-Outside, Petra Blaisse
Wall Paper: 2x4, Michael Rock
Movable Furniture: Seufert

Prada New York Epicenter

The projects for the Italian fashion company Prada span from research on shopping and new concepts for Prada as a brand to the creation of three big stores in the United States. But beyond restructuring the physical reality of the brand, Prada’s virtual presence is simultaneously defined through extensive in-store technology projects and the creation of a website. The combination of these aspects generates an integrated service structure that enables Prada to provide a new sense of exclusivity, but also to reinforce the diverse and intriguing aura of the brand.

Stores
The stores are conceived as specific insertions both in relation to the brand and the network of existing 'green' Prada stores, as well as the city and cultural context they are situated in. In contrast to the concept of a classical ‘flagship store’ – the simple enlargement of a generic store, in other words more of the same – the new Prada ‘epicenters’ offer a diversification of the shopping experience: the commercial function is overlaid with a series of experiential and spatial typologies… clinic – an environment for specialized personal care and service; archive – an inventory of current and past collections, trading floor – an accumulation of rapidly changing information, new technology applications and e-commerce; library – zones of content and knowledge dedicated to the evolution of the fashion system; street – a space for multiple activities, liberated from the pressure to buy… At a time when commercial activity has invaded all public spaces and cultural institutions, this concept offers a redefinition of exclusivity: the possibility for public functions and programs to reclaim the territory of shopping…

New York
The New York project is an interior conversion of the former Guggenheim store in Soho [Broadway, Prince St, Mercer St]. The 23000 sqft are distributed between the ground floor and basement of the building. As a means to naturally connect to the large basement area and guide customers to the more invisible parts of the store, the floor steps downwards in its entire width and rises subsequently to re-connect to the ground level, creating a big ‘wave’. The oversized stair made of zebra wood is used as an informal display space, where people can try on shoes and browse through bags and other accessories. On the push of a button, an event platform rotates out of the opposite part of the wave, turning the stair into an auditorium for performances, film projections, and lectures. Large metal cages for merchandise and display are suspended from an overhead track system and create singular shopping addresses, like inverted buildings in a street – a ‘hanging city’. These display volumes can contract at the back of the store into a solid volume and free the space for public activities.

A translucent wall of polycarbonate covers the existing brick wall of the building and establishes a dialogue between old and new. A mural of wallpaper on the entire length of the store allows for rapid change of the environment.

Located at the Broadway entrance, a round and fully glazed elevator displays bags and accessories and gives the customer the possibility to shop while travelling vertically. It descends into a lounge located underneath the wave, where the main dressing rooms are visible from display mattresses covered in techno gel that give the possibility to sit and watch people dress. The black-and-white marble floor is a reference to the first Prada store in Milan; its reflection gets distorted through the curved mirrored ceiling of the space.

The northern part of the basement holds the archive, ‘movable walls’, an adapted system of compact shelving that allows the sequence and size of spaces to be altered according to need. These Prada-green shelves contrast with the unfinished gypsum board walls and the wooden ceiling. With a separate entrance from Mercer Street, the all-white clinic area contains VIP rooms, tailors and catering facilities

Ole Scheeren
project director and lead designer
Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Prada New York text from OMA 270307



New York Architects

New York Architecture

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) - key Projects (chronological):
Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, Germany:1990
Educatorium, Utrecht, Netherlands:1997
Prada New York, USA: 2001
McCormick Tribune Campus Center, IIT, Chicago, Illinois, USA: 2003
Seattle Public Library, Seattle, USA: 2004

Modern Architects

New York Skyscraper



World Architecture : e-architect - a guide to key buildings across the globe

New York store : Louis Vuitton

Prada New York architect - Rem Koolhaas

Comments / photos for the Prada New York page welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk

Prada New York Building : page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt

Prada New York Epicenter - Website: www.prada.com