ART RETAIL
‘Space Between’ is a proposal for an informative retail unit which aims to sell the experience of studying at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD), University of Dundee. The design combines spacial typologies of the art school with its meta-physical characteristics and values. As an adaptive- reuse project, this experimental installation utilises a modular interior system without interfering with the building’s four original walls. This principle is effective for a retail space as the installation can be adapted over time; and emphasises the ‘brand’ of the art school rather than using the site as a starting point.
“The shop depends on its ability to change its appearance without altering its basic retail anatomy"
The atomosphere of this space has been designed using scale and human interaction. Remaining authentic and honest to the general public, while being unintimidating and unimposing on the identity of prospective students, are the key characterisics of this proposal. The unit is split into two parts. Human beings occupy the ‘negative’ space: an empty, scaled-down walkway where customers would have real students as their point of contact. Surrounding this container would be student-curated exhibitions and the ‘consumable’ element of this retail experience. This duality of the inner and the outer, the enquiry and the browsing, aims to break down any feeling of intimidation or disconnect between the art school and the wider community.
“But what actually is the space if the container is moved? Just, in fact, as the vessel is transportable place so place is a non-portable vessel.”
-Aristotle
Forms used to sculpt this space were derived from
deconstructing photographs and sketches of the Matthew Building. Visual artists who have explored ‘Place’ and deconstruction, such as Cornelia Parker and Simon Starling, give society exposure to the inner details of somewhere which was previously concealed and private. By fragmenting some of DJCAD’s Brutalist architectural forms, the space between the containers and columns act as welcome breathing space, rather than appearing intimidating or exclusive (qualities which would not suit the retail landscape). This negative space, crucial to the building’s character, has been developed and incorporated in the smaller architectural blue-print of this retail unit.
An inner walkway which extrudes through the centre of seven large dividing screens is for the customer to peruse, inversing the ‘Glass Box Theory’ where the box in shops and museums ordinarily frames the consumable or artefact. This space also challenges conservative retail typologies with an asymmetrical floor plan. Much like Le Corbusier’s ‘La Tourette’, it has been designed in an off-beat language of vertical and horizontal.
Creating a changeable space satisfies the temporal nature of retail and represents the transience of a journey through art school. Double height, utilitarian screens give the space versatility. While restricting the customer’s access to the unit’s outer walls, the negative space that they create in bewtween has been designed for use as flexible exhibition cases, information racks or seating booths. Exploration of uncertainty and transience in retail was highlighted by Konstantin Grcic’s design for Ayzit Bostan’s Berlin shop, whose client was ‘unwilling to commit to a permanent interior architecture’ and felt that a fully resolved space ‘didn’t fit her idea of a retail environment for a city seemingly under constant construction’.
The Façade is a performance space in its own right. Window dressing, an art lined with deceit and superfluous decoration, should have the opposite effect to this kerb-side performance. The use of self-deprecating materials (white concrete paired with translucent polycarbonate) alludes to the core values of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design: authenticity, honesty and modesty. Set back from the pavement, the threshold between the shop’s interior becomes blended with its surrounding environment, intriguing the customer into the space.
