Barneys Does Beantown

Jeffrey Hutchison refashions a Boston mall location as Barneys New York

Jill Connors -- Interior Design, 4/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Asked to accomplish a mission near-impossible—turning the movie theater and food court of a 1980's mall into a luxury shopping environment—Jeffrey Hutchison looked heavenward for inspiration. And there he found the one existing element worth keeping: an octagonal skylight 45 feet wide, caked with urban grime. Reglazed and illuminated, the skylight now crowns the two-level Barneys New York at the Copley Place shopping center in Boston's historic Back Bay neighborhood.

Directly beneath the skylight stands a bifurcated limestone staircase that Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates designed as both circulation artery and visual focal point. Because the stair splits in a Y at a landing midway, shoppers get an alluring view both up and down. "It's like a fork in the road," Hutchison says. "It goes beyond circulation—it's about always having a choice. And the dynamic geometric form worked with the skylight."

Hutchison has made a specialty of fashion retail architecture, and he learned all about the Barneys New York credo of "taste luxury humor" when he designed a Barneys in Tokyo's Ginza district. In Boston, the two-story glass facade gains dynamism from the horizontals, verticals, and diagonals of the painted-aluminum frame. This unique storefront also enables a shopper to see the entire 45,000-square-foot interior from the court of Copley Place. "It's a dramatic beacon," Hutchison says.

Inside, surface materials and decorative artistry announce the luxe level. Near the main entry, the cosmetics area's marble mosaic floor is laid in an intricate pattern of sunbursts and octagons. Limestone and bleached oak make up the rest of the first level's flooring. The second-level men's section has a honey-colored oak floor and, by the fitting rooms, a tufted banquette and a mirrored wall that evoke a 1930's European haberdasher. Cabinetry and millwork throughout are bleached mahogany and natural wengé.

Hutchison's shell is the perfect counterpoint to moments of wit provided by Barneys's own creative-services group. Near the entry, a gown-clad mannequin reclines across the base of a giant mirrored open box. A similar open cube, this time in raw hemlock, sits in the middle of the prefab concrete-tile floor in the edgy women's Co-op; a stuffed leopard crouches inside the cube, facing a mannequin perched on top—her arms thrown skyward, like she's just leaped to safety.

Other unexpected twists come from installations by New York artists. Florals lend an old-world air to the fragrance department: Some are printed and applied to a cabinet; others are hand-colored Japanese paper collaged onto backlit acrylic shelving. In the women's designer area, an undulating aluminum tube is both sculpture and merchandising tool. In women's shoes, a "corset"—fashioned from leather, cotton canvas, and silk cords—wraps around a column.

The women's shoe salon is definitely more than just a place to try on Manolo Blahniks. Hutchison's brick-patterned limestone hearth and lilac-and-white banquette make the 4,200-square-foot space feel intimate. "It's a modern living room, a place to gather and hang out," Hutchison says. "In retail, you need to attract people through the uniqueness of the store, then give them lots of reasons to stay."

Previous spread: To connect the two levels at Barneys New York in Boston's Copley Place mall, Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates designed a stainless-steel staircase with limestone treads and risers, glass balustrades, and bleached-mahogany handrails. The upper level houses the women's Co-op, where a pair of custom chairs and a vintage table form a small lounge.

Opposite: A mannequin in Lanvin's silk dress reclines on a polished stainless-steel display fixture just inside the main entry. Flooring in this part of the store is marble mosaic.

Left, from top: Painted aluminum frames the store's double-height facade. An aluminum bar by blacksmith-artist Norbert Kimmel twists its way through the women's designer department. Right, from top: Bleached-mahogany paneling surrounds a display niche in an elevator lobby. In fragrances, John-Paul Philippe printed the graphic applied to the custom wengé cabinet and collaged hand-colored Japanese paper on the backlit acrylic shelving.

Left, from top: Philippe also fashioned the corset of leather, cotton canvas, and silk cords that wraps the column rising from a stepped oak platform in women's shoes. Outside the men's fitting rooms, an antique mahogany table stands by a banquette upholstered in linen and cotton. Right, from top: Jonathan Adler's lacquered table anchors an elevator lobby. An antique brass vitrine holds fine jewelry.

Opposite: The reglazed skylight spans 45 feet, much of it over the Co-op, with its concrete floor tile.

PROJECT TEAM: LUIS FERNANDEZ; AGNIESZKA CHROMICZ; CONSTANCE SASSO; BETSE UNGEMACK; DAVID LAGE; ALLISON MCKENZIE; KRISTEN WOGEN; ALEXANDRA DEGEDEON; KAREN TAPPIS; DYLAN HOUSE. MILLWORK (CO-OP): AMUNEAL MANUFACTURING CORP. CHAIR UPHOLSTERING: PHOENIX CUSTOM FURNITURE. CHAIR BACK FABRIC: CHINA SEAS. CHAIR SEAT FABRIC (CO-OP), BANQUETTE FABRIC (FITTING AREA): HOLLAND SHERRY. CUSTOM DISPLAY BOX (ENTRY): CARLSON COMPANY. CUSTOM WINDOW SYSTEM (EXTERIOR): KAWNEER COMPANY. FRAME FINISH: PPG INDUSTRIES. CUSTOM SIGNAGE: TRIANGLE SIGN SERVICE. CUSTOM CABINET (FRAGRANCES): PINEHURST. CARPET (SHOES, FITTING AREA): WOOLSHIRE CARPET MILLS. TABLE (ELEVATOR LOBBY): JONATHAN ADLER. CUSTOM DISPLAY BOX (CO-OP): J.K. CABINET. CAMEO MURALS: CARTER KUSTERA PRODUCTIONS. FLOORING: ARCHITECTURAL SYSTEMS. CUSTOM PAINT: BENJAMIN MOORE CO. MILLWORK, UPHOLSTERING: PATELLA WOODWORKING. LIGHTING CONSULTANT: JOHNSON SCHWINGHAMMER LIGHTING CONSULTANTS. STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: ZALDASTANI ASSOCIATES. MEP: CLIVE SAMUELS ASSOCIATES CONSULTING ENGINEERS. PROJECT MANAGER: VVA. ARCHITECT OF RECORD: GENSLER. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: STRUCTURE TONE.