NOKE Architects designs Take A Look an optical store with select ranges of brand-name eyeglass frames located in the modernized part of Warsaw’s Wola district.
As it has two glass storefronts on the street side, the goal of the NOKE designers was to create an interior that would tempt passers-by and entice them to step inside.
The center of the salon houses two custom-made tables, as the ‘eyes’ of the place, as Karol Pasternak, architect and partner at NOKE Architects puts it. While one serves as a customer service point, the other serves as a place to measure frames. The NOKE designers focused on combining functionality and decorative elements to form the unusual combination of the tables. The pedestals are finished in a microcement and are shaped like large eyes; the table lamps are the pupils, and the graphic elements on the floor resemble the eyelashes. While the interior is delicate and subdued, we have introduced a touch of humor and extravagance. This is our wink to the clients and a direct reference to the name of the shop, says Piotr Maciaszek, architect and partner at NOKE Architects.
The large storefront windows let in a lot of daylight, to be dispersed by the fabrics, walls and glass elements in the design. One of the challenges was to diffuse the light as much as possible to reduce the shadows on the faces of the people trying on the frames, says Karol Pasternak. The curtains have a flesh-colored shade, an ideal background for the faces of customers; they are arranged in a waveform which enamors a sense of calm rhythm to the wall textures and the room’s space in general. Natural colors are present throughout the design, from the walls to the furniture to the concrete floor. Wavy fabrics and a sound-absorbing decorative ceiling ensure the acoustic comfort of the customers and employees.
Each of the furniture and displays are original designs from skilled craftsmen. The tinted glass shelves of the bookcases are the work of a talented glassblower; they are arranged in a gradient, from the darkest color at floor level to the brightest at eye level. The tabletops and pedestals have been made from intense green marble. The motif of natural stone and tinted glass repeats in several places around the boutique – the lower displays in the storefronts and the 2-meter tall mirror-totem are in a similar style.
In addition to the main space, the designs of the eye examination rooms, waiting rooms, and back rooms harmonize with the main character of the salon interior.
Location Wola, Warsaw (Poland)
Design NOKE Architects
NOKE Architects aspires to create a ‘world exceptional’. A dream manageable through partnership of NOKE’s skills and the vision of clients. NOKE strongly believe in cooperation and unity of minds. The mixture of her experience and intuition, together with the dreams of the clients, can create an extraordinary, bespoke and functional beauty.
