Archinect - News

London’s landmark Marks & Spencer department store gets a new life after court ruling

2023-07-20T17:26:00-04:00

A number of prominent architects had previously voiced their support for retrofitting the century-old store ahead of the inquiry, which began last October at the bequest of Secretary Michael Gove. Gove cited a concern for neighboring landmarks in the vicinity as part of his decision to strike down the retailer's demolition scheme in addition to its potential "lifetime carbon usage."

According to a report today in Bloomberg CityLab, "Marks & Spencer Group Plc will review its future as a fixture on London’s Oxford Street after losing government backing for a plan to demolish its flagship art deco store and rebuild a modern replacement [...] The case is a major win for the campaign group, which argued the 'handsome' building should be retrofitted rather than demolished, on the grounds that it would have a much lower environmental impact."

Advocates, including SAVE Britain's Heritage, hope the ruling will establish precedents by which the future of two dozen or so other "high street ti...

An English department store demo could create a new special historic status for former retail palaces across the UK

2022-08-24T12:48:00-04:00

Historic England is taking action as preservation advocates in the country prepare for what could be a seminal decision that might alter the face of building conservation in the UK for years to come.

More than 50% of the country's historic department stores have reportedly closed since 2015, leading proponents of their adaptive reuse (including The Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright) to successfully petition against the proposed demolition of a landmark Marks & Spencer outpost on Oxford Street in Central London. Architects, led by Julia Barfield, Sarah Wigglesworth, and Stirling Medalist Steve Tompkins have been lining up with the group to voice their support for retrofitting ahead of an October inquiry into the matter that was called recently by Communities Secretary Michael Gove. Many see this as a potential public rallying cry for retrofit projects throughout the country.

Previously on Archinect: Save Britain's Heritage details threats faced by landmark department stores

A group c...

Foster + Partners designs timber department store in Tokyo

2022-06-02T14:27:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled designs for a nine-story, timber-structure department store in Tokyo, presenting an elegant retail space that features several green-building practices.

Called the Shibuya Marui Department Store, the space is set to become a new showcase for sustainable lifestyle brands. Its design ensures the maximization of daylight and passive thermal comfort while using natural materials.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

“We are delighted to be working on such a ground-breaking and sustainable project, which is a stone’s throw away from the world-famous Shibuya Crossing,” said Foster + Partners Senior Executive Partner David Summerfield. “A timber structure will significantly reduce the embodied carbon of the building, while simultaneously creating a warm and open experience for visitors.”

The department store is inspired by traditional Japanese building techniques featuring a timber structure that greatly lowers the building’s embodied carbon and offers a distinct...

Save Britain's Heritage details threats faced by landmark department stores

2022-04-06T14:41:00-04:00

At least 18 “high street titans” – architecturally significant department stores that have fallen victim to profound changes in shopping patterns – are at risk of being permanently lost, according to a new report. But these “cathedrals of commerce”, as Émile Zola described them in his 1883 novel The Ladies’ Paradise, should be granted new lives – as art galleries, residential housing, community hubs and social spaces, says Save Britain’s Heritage.

The report Departing Stores: Emporia at Risk details the threats to department stores across the UK and what can be done to save these spaces. It covers 46 landmark department stores in town and city centers, some of which have been restored or developed while maintaining their architectural heritage. Others, however, have been left vacant and are at risk of decay or demolition. In addition, according to the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company, there were 237 vacant department stores in the UK as of mid-2021.

The popularity of department stores has sharply declined with the proliferation of online shopping, which was exacerbated by the onset of the pandemic. The Guardian notes that in the first quarter of 2021, overall retail vacancy sat at a five-year high of 14.1%. In defense of department stores, the report hails their architectural and historical merit. Now, “the race is on to identify and assess these buildings,” according to Marcus Binney, executive president of ...

OMA reveals first quadrant of redesigned KaDeWe department store in Berlin

2021-10-09T09:00:00-04:00

The important first section of OMA’s redesigned master plan for the famed Berlin department store Kaufhaus des Westens (or KaDeWe) has officially opened to the public this week after a five-year renovation effort.

Organized into quadrants, the reorganized mass introduces a smaller area plan with improved accessibility and more wayfinding. OMA is hoping to address the changes in consumer spending as well as the rise of online retail known as a threat to traditional brick-and-mortar establishments.

Photograph by Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA.

“The renovation of the KaDeWe aims to redefine the dynamics between retail space, its patrons, and the urban environment, in a time when e-commerce is reshaping our relation with in-person shopping,” OMA partner Ellen van Loon offered. “The project reinterprets the fundamental elements of a typology that has remained virtually unchanged for more than 100 years.”

Photograph by Marco Cappelletti, Courtesy of OMA.

Consisting of a concentric void...

Featuring a rippling glass facade by SANAA, the fully restored La Samaritaine department store opens in Paris after 16 years

2021-06-24T15:16:00-04:00

The overhauled La Samaritaine department store is now open in Paris after an $894 million restoration that has kept the building closed since 2005.

The new Samaritaine features a rippling glass veiled facade, covered patios, repaired skylights, and an updated 1907 roof that gives the shopping center's restored interior an opulent feel.

The Art Nouveau facade on Rue de la Monnaie. © Pierre-Olivier Deschamps via SANAA.

Japanese firm SANAA worked to restore the Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings for LVHM with help from Canadian studio Yabu Pushelberg. The new Samaritaine Pont-Neuf building will now serve as a luxury shopping destination in a 19th-century retail space itself reconstructed a century ago by architect Frantz Jourdain.

Interior view of La Samaritaine's staircase and skylight features. © Pierre-Olivier Deschamps via SANAA.

The newly restored buildings had once been host to an unprofitable venture and will now feature contrasting retail spaces, with three floors aimed delibera...

OMA completes otherworldly Galleria department store in Korea

2020-03-25T14:34:00-04:00

After being commissioned in 2016, OMA recently completed the sixth and largest location for upscale South Korean department store Galleria in Gwanggyo, a new town just south of Seoul. The building features multi-faceted glass protruding from a textured mosaic stone facade, which echoes the landscape of the neighboring Suwon Gwanggyo Lake Park. This distinct stone-like appearance “makes it a natural point of gravity for public life in Gwanggyo,” OMA says.

Photo © Hong Sung Jun, courtesy of OMA.

As visitors walk along the public route that was “excavated” from the stone building, they will encounter retail spaces and cultural activities like exhibitions and performances that form a “Public Loop.” They can also peer through the multi-faceted glass facade to see views of Gwanggyo. The route eventually leads to a roof garden.

Photo © Hong Sung Jun, courtesy of OMA.

Photo © ...

David Chipperfield Architects completes unifying renovation for Selfridges department store in London

2018-09-12T13:24:00-04:00

David Chipperfield Architects recently completed Selfridges Duke Street, a new entrance building and accessories hall for the Selfridges department store in London.

The department store is housed in a beaux-arts style building on Oxford Street completed in 1929. Selfridges eventually expanded into a new art deco style building to the north, and developed into a hodgepodge of styles mixed together.

The accessories hall in the original Selfridges building facing Oxford Street by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The firm's goal is part of a larger redevelopment plan for Selfridges to establish architectural continuity and fluidity throughout the entire complex.

The accessories hall in the original Selfridges building facing Oxford Street by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The accessories hall, looking south towards the link bu...

David Chipperfield designs monolith for rotating art program at London department store

2018-06-05T15:11:00-04:00

Selfridges department store in London has teamed up with Yorkshire Sculpture park on a new contemporary sculpture initiative. New works will be unveiled every six months on a marble and steel monolith designed by the UK architect David Chipperfield as part of his commission to create Selfridges’ new accessories hall. The joint project, known as the Art Block, has been dubbed Selfridges’ version of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

BIG in Paris: Bjarke Ingels to design for Galeries Lafayette on Champs-Élysées

2016-02-10T14:44:00-05:00

When asked why the company chose not to commission Rem Koolhaas' OMA, who are already involved with designing the department store’s art foundation, Costa says that the decision to select BIG was based on the firm’s disruptive thinking and that OMA was already working with German department store KaDeWe in Berlin. “We were confident to work with new architects,” he says.

Tune in to tomorrow's Archinect Sessions to listen to a fuller discussion of what this disruptive design choice means for BIG, for Paris, and for flagship stores everywhere. In the meantime, here's a window display from Galeries Lafayette, circa 2007:

And here's a quick refresher on what Bjarke's been up to:

A history of department stores

2015-03-30T13:59:00-04:00

With their brilliant use of electric lighting – something Mendelsohn had learned from the look of American city streets at night – bold architectural graphics and photogenic forms, the Schocken stores were admired by a new generation of European architects and castigated by the Nazis, who came to power in 1933

Jonathan Glancey examines how from Victorian London to Soviet-era Moscow, they have changed the way we shop and have shaped global culture.