Valextra Store Miami.

Valextra Store Miami.

📅15 Marzo 2019, 16:00
TESTO ITALIANO

For the new store in Bal Harbour, Miami, Valextra selects Aranda\Lasch to design a space steeped in Milanese craftsmanship.

Aranda/Lasch designed valextra store miami

The inspiration for the project is the entryways of Milan’s palazzos: gates, lobbies, and corridors connecting the indoors with outdoors, the metropolitan chaos with domestic intimacy.

Like these liminal spaces, Aranda\Lasch presents an environment of distinctly Milanese materials and attention to detail.

Valextra is rooted in its Milanese history, the detailing of their products is unparalleled in its execution, they are sophisticated in their understatement but at the same time sensual in their colors and patterns”, says Benjamin Aranda.

This Milanese tradition serves as the direction for the project’s design and material explorations. Visitors first encounter the design approach in the façade clad in the city’s signature porous stone, Ceppo di Gre.

Inside, the store reinterprets the fundamental elements of a classic palazzo lobby: marbles, metals, rare wood and reflective surfaces, all presented in a combination of sophistication and abstraction.

The Valextra collections of leather goods are displayed on stone pedestals which combine Arzo marble blocks (the same material which can be found in the Via Manzoni, Milan, flagship) floating on a light metal mesh. The metal is a common industrial material made graceful through a reflective polish and meticulous detailing. The heavy Italian stones appear to be floating on a net.

Aranda/Lasch designed valextra store miami

Monolithic marble shelves flank the space and provide a cantilevered surface for display and storage of Valextra’s small leather goods.

One distinctive feature of the store is a long metal coil to organize the leather products. Beyond, the display in the back is designed as two wing walls clad in Alpi laminate by Ettore Sottsass.

The composition is typical of Aranda\Lasch: geometric modules whose repetition creates an effect reminiscent of crystals and minerals. To complete the atmosphere, a fabric ceiling softens the light alongside hidden spotlights, a combination typical to a museum or art gallery.

Overall there is a simplicity in the details with a maximum material impact. It an environment that is contemporary and flexible, fluid and refined, that emphasizes the small Valextra masterpieces as exemplars of Milanese craft.

Aranda/Lasch designed valextra store miami

Design Aranda\Lasch
Project Architect BBA Berenblum Busch Architects
Area 90 sqm
Lighting Viabizzuno
Millwork Fav Woodworking
Photos courtesy Robin Hill

Aranda\Lasch

Aranda\Lasch is a New York and Tucson-based design studio led by Benjamin Aranda, Chris Lasch and Joaquin Bonifaz. The studio designs buildings, installations and furniture. Recognition includes the United States Artists Award, Young Architects Award, Design Vanguard Award, AD Innovators, and the Architectural League Emerging Voices Award. Aranda\Lasch has exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, design fairs and biennials. Their work is part of the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York.

by AN shopfitting magazine no.149 ©

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