study, 2009
program: interior architecture
location: the hague, the netherlands
The brief was to design a shop that specialises in the sale of seasonal, regional products.
Each season the shop offers a different selection of fruit and vegetables. These changes have an irrevocable impact on the shop’s appearance. This formed the basis for the design: the product range determines the interior.
Product (design) = Interior (architecture).
The shop is located in an Art Nouveau building designed in 1898 by Jan Willem Bosboom. It is a narrow, tall building that is characterised by its glass front façade, cast iron ornaments and voids.
The new interior design comprises a wooden backbone that runs throughout the building. Attached to this backbone are ribs that in turn hold the products. Fruit and vegetables are presented in bags that hang between the ribs.
The design of the backbone is a contemporary interpretation of the Art Nouveau context it is located in.
The places where the lavishly ornamental columns form the structure of the building, now also comprise the places where the backbone locks onto the building. The detailing of the backbone connections with the building provides a similar complexity and rhythm as with the ornaments. Only this time it’s purely functional.
