January 30, 2015

2014 BOY Winner: Retail Intervention

The neoclassical sandstone facade of this respected jewelry store, in business since 1879, was well worth saving. However, everything inside, including a recent intermediate floor slab, was gutted by Jaime Oliver and Paloma Hernaiz. The result of all that demolition is a 2,000-square-foot jewel box made more open and welcoming by a triple-height central atrium with backlit white stretched fabric on the ceiling and walls. Alongside the atrium, Oliver and Hernaiz compressed the functional program into three very different sculptural volumes. First, just inside the front doors, comes the leather-upholstered Rolex room. The middle level offers a VIP lounge and bar lined entirely with triangular panels veneered in walnut. Up top, undulating fins of laser-cut solid surfacing enclose a gallery with integral display niches. A fourth volume, housing mechanicals, plays a visual role as well. Oliver and Hernaiz wrapped this vertical form in mirror-polished stainless steel that ripples faintly, due to slightly imperfect joints between the sheets. The effect is such that, from certain angles as sunlight shifts throughout the day, the rest of the interior disappears into a giddy kaleidoscope of reflections.

Project Team: Jorge Ramón; Jesús Alonso; Rebeca Lavín; Elena Campos; Kadriye Yaça; Rocío Bermúdez.

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