Per chi associa le Galeries Lafayette alla sola sede storica di Boulevard Haussmann, visitare il nuovo magazzino inaugurato nel 2019 sugli Champs Elysées – con una festa a base di musica elettronica e atmosfere da discoteca – potrebbe risultare molto sorprendente. Nonostante si collochi in un edificio storico in stile Art Deco, la nuova sede aperta sul viale dello shopping parigino ha, infatti, un’aria alquanto moderna e scenografica, caratterizzata da un’architettura interna più audace ed innovativa rispetto ai magazzini Haussmann. Anche l’organizzazione espositiva è radicalmente differente: si fa a meno dei tradizionali corner dedicati ai singoli marchi per preferire una suddivisione dei prodotti per tipologia (accessori, abiti, occasioni, tendenze emergenti, classici e must-have). A fare da protagonista a livello visuale sono sorprendenti espositori monumentali che costituiscono vere e proprie architetture nell’architettura, studiate per potenziare la scenografica struttura interna del palazzo, caratterizzata da un’alta tremie centrale e un elegante scalone Deco.
For those who associate Galeries Lafayette with the historic Boulevard Haussmann location alone, visiting the new department store opening on the Champs Elysées in 2019-with a party of electronic music and disco vibes-may come as quite a surprise. Despite being located in a historic Art Deco building, the new location opened on the Parisian shopping avenue does, in fact, have a rather modern and scenic air, characterized by a bolder and more innovative interior architecture than the Haussmann warehouses. The display organization is also radically different: it dispenses with the traditional corners dedicated to individual brands in favor of a division of products by type (accessories, clothes, bargains, emerging trends, classics and must-haves). Leading the way on a visual level are striking monumental displays that constitute true architecture within architecture, designed to enhance the building’s scenic internal structure, characterized by a tall central tremie and an elegant Deco staircase.
Sice Previt contributed to the realization of this ambitious interior project, curated by the renowned BIG architecture firm, taking care of the development and production of no less than two displays.
One of these is the so-called Serpentine, a decidedly original sunglass display designed in the wake of BIG’s iconic London creation: the Serpentine Pavillion, which attracted so many visitors to the Kensington Gardens gallery of the same name in the summer of 2016.
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Applying the same principle of the “deconstructed brick wall,” in which the slippage of the cells with respect to the central axis creates sinuous and dynamic volumes, BIG has designed a rather original display, consisting of 650 fiberglass cells, each of which constitutes a potential showcase for accessories. The overall impact is truly striking, although the dimensions (10 meters long and 4 meters high) are far smaller than those Pavillion in London, which had about 1,800 cells. Added to the curvature on the horizontal axis, which creates a vaguely labyrinthine and organic effect, is the curvature on the vertical axis, which makes the shape of the display even more fascinating, in an interplay of different depths with respect to the visitor’s vantage point. Completing the spell, again building on the 2016 construction, is a play of light made possible by the semi-transparent material of the cabinet, enriched in this case by the alternation of cells provided with LEDs and non-illuminated cells.
From the production point of view, the challenge of making this display stood in the structural complexity of the project: the serpentine, in fact, is a self-supporting structure where the cells support each other. In making it concrete, the solidity of the whole as well as the inclusion of a lighting system for the individual cells had to be ensured without going to the detriment of aesthetic perfection.
The solution for the assembly was found in the use of specially produced cruciform metal extrusions, attached with special unseen bolts to the four surrounding cells to create a repeatable module-base. A further peculiarity of these extrusions is then the cavity made on the longitudinal axis, specially designed by Sice to allow the orderly passage of electrical cables for lighting, which are thus completely hidden from view, without disturbing the pattern of the cells.
To ensure structural stability, Sice Previt also relied not only on the construction skills of its architects, engineers, designers and craftsmen but also on the collaboration of the Milan Polytechnic. In fact, in a shared project, load and compression tests were conducted on the prototype cells, so as to ensure the tightness of those placed at the base of the furniture, in fact loaded with the weight of all the others.
The assembly phase also required careful planning and execution, precisely because of the self-supporting and unusual nature of the structure. When assembling the cells, it was necessary to reproduce to the millimeter the alignment defined on the basis of architectural calculations, to ensure both stability and the desired aesthetic effect: for this purpose Sice Previt therefore studied a system of templates, designed ad hoc to reproduce the relative positions of the cells and effectively guide the workers in the construction.
Finally, as a complement to the Serpentine, Sice Previt made and assembled the Sunglasses Panel, an additional free-standing display in tropicalized galvanized sheet metal, inspired by the Serpentine in the alternation of empty and full spaces but structurally much simpler. It complements the environment with its mirrored surfaces and electronically locking drawer units, used for storing the products on display.
