Retail rent in a city like Paris is sky-high, and that poses a particular problem to any retailer: How do you make enough money during one half of the day to pay for your space? Mathieu Lehanneur created a novel solution for a new shop, Le Laboratoire. By day, the middle of the space is dominated by the display cases. By night, those cases recede into the ceiling and become lighting fixtures. That then frees the space up to be used as a cafe, serving nibbles from the kitchen in the basement. Voila: A space that maximizes revenue, by transforming into different businesses, day and night.
Lehanneur was actually inspired by experts in making use of tight quarters: In particular, coal miners, whose dressing rooms and lockers are sometimes suspended from the ceilings of mines.
More images at Designboom.
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Related Stories: | Topics:Design, retail design, display cases, Mathieu Lehanneur, Paris, Le Laboratoire, shopping, Retail Architecture, Innovation, Technology, Mathieu Lehanneur, Paris |
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Recent Comments | 1 Total
June 18, 2009 at 4:18am by Essence V
How do businesses around the country survive on this day of economic recession? Well, that’s only one of the questions in business world. Some economic indicators are slightly ridiculous – lipstick sales seem a bit odd, but there is some actual merit – but a sign that things like the gross domestic product, home prices, or unemployment rates are starting to increase or about to would certainly be a welcome change. Most experts have predicted that recovery will begin at the end of 2009, and it will take patience and time, rather than quick cash and outlandish economic indicators. A lot of people are looking for any economic indicators that there is some hope.