Called Cocoons, and resembling cryogenic chambers, the stainless-steel enclosures are designed for double duty: they can be used for merchandise displays or as change rooms.
Each structure is constructed from three pattern-cut steel sheets, with flanges along the seams folded and reinforced with drilled steel plates. This volume is then welded to a steel base frame that houses a lit acrylic floor. For use as a change room, a steel-framed door veiled with a sheer white fabric is fitted to the Cocoon.
Firmly set in the luxury shopping epicentre – the site of CdG’s new space is the second of its kind (the original Dover Street Market is in London’s swanky Mayfair neighbourhood). In addition to its own line, the department store-cum-museum carries such brands as Maison Martin Margiela and A Bathing Ape. The six-floor funhouse will also display works by artists, architects and designers.
Patkau Architects for Comme des Garcons
For a new retail space inside the Dover Street Market Ginza in Tokyo, Rei Kawakubo – the creative force behind Comme des Garcons – asked the Vancouver firm to reinterpret its Winnipeg Skating Shelters, a temporary installation on the Red and the Assiniboine Rivers.