Translucent polycarbonate panels are used to separate different shopping zones outfitted to specific weather conditions in this pop-up shop in New York designed by fashion brand The Arrivals.
The Arrivals is the brainchild of architect Jeff Johnson and entrepreneur Kal Vepuri, who teamed Brooklyn experiential studio Early Spring led by Kamil Tyebally to create the temporary shop.
Called the OutThere Lab, the pop-up features three zones designed around different microclimates with the aim to encourage people to go outside wearing The Arrivals gear.
“The idea of providing a tool kit for getting out in the elements is one of the inspirations for this space,” Johnson told Dezeen.
“Playful yet performative, it is the last stop for explorers to stock up on equipment and gain valuable insight from seasoned guides to face the elements of the omitted Out There,” he added.
“Everyone that works here will be talking guides, really thinking not only through the performance of the products but also the environments that they’re made for, with a clinical approach.”
The Arrivals pop-up is located in New York’s SoHo neighbourhood, within a narrow 2,000-square-foot (186-square-metre) space that is only visible on the outside through its glass front door. A corridor just beyond the entrance features a long desk area checkouts and customer queries.
Upon entering is a foyer with LED signs broadcasting weather in three cities – Tokyo, New York and Berlin – with garments and accessories suiting each climate are displayed alongside. These outfits change daily, according to local weather.
Throughout the pop-up store are partitions made out of channelled, translucent polycarbonate panels. The material was chosen as a nod to a greenhouse which traditionally uses the material to contain microclimates.
“We thought it was a perfect kind of pairing that we’re creating these different worlds, and not only does the polycarbonate look cool but it plays really well with the light and adds ambiguity but also structure to the space,” he said.
In the rear three zones designed around different weather conditions, including sun, snow and rain, as signalled by icons in LED lightboxes.
Each has a large, low volume in the centre built with medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and clad in brushed aluminium laminate. They are filled with materials that evoke the climates: one has live moss as a reference to a rainforest, another has fine grain desert sand for sunlight, and a volume in the rear is filled with white beach pebbles to evoke snow.
Suitable clothing and accessories are then displayed beside.
Other custom details are powder-coated white Z-racks and C-stands – two standard fashion industry mechanisms – with neon accents and a range of merchandise.
In the far back are two changing rooms covered in soft pink faux fur, which is also applied onto benches to add tactility to the otherwise stark, grey space. Changing room doors are also laminated in brushed aluminium.
“We are using very industrial materials but finishing them in a cohesive and elevated way,” Johnson said. “It’s a very fun way to express the brand when having surfaces and materials that are like very clean and very refined and then having something that’s very low brow.”
Founded in 2014, The Arrivals is a direct-to-consumer fashion brand based in New York City. Its items inlcude leather jackets and packable coats, in addition to unisex sunglasses and performance socks.
“For us, the outerwear category feels like there’s such a quiet space between pure function and driven outdoor brands, and on the other side, true fashion brands,” said Johnson. “To really own this white space that exists between design and true performance is great.”
The pop-up at 26 Mercer Street is open from October 2019 until February 2020.
It is the latest that The Arrivals has created to showcase its new launches, following the “alien” spaces it created across three US cities in 2018 and a New York store with a pink bouncy castle powered by Dyson last year.
Photography is courtesy of The Arrivals.
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