In the heart of Brooklyn NY, this renovated brick industrial structure serves the Williamsburg community as a highly interactive retail environment that doubles as, both, a sculptural installation and bespoke presentation of Google’s most current products.
The space is organized around a constellation of suspended wooden vitrines, or “Cabinet of Curiosities,” that artfully showcase the store’s offerings inviting customers to engage, learn and explore. These vitrines are made up of a series of highly adaptable componentized boxes that can be quickly edited to house a variety of product display scenarios. These boxes are arranged in an intentionally porous pattern so that customers are always visibly aware of the other offerings around them furthering curiosity and engagement.
The vitrines descend below a triad of existing skylights using the buildings latent potential and providing a glow of natural light in the spaces below. Daylight is used to highlight different parts of the display components at different times of day, casting rays of light on the tables or flushing the fronts of the vitrines, keeping the space in constant motion and enhancing curiosity. These skylights also house lighting that, at night, remain lit converting the space from a bright interactive day environment to a glowing evening gallery that is easily seen from the popular street.
Supplementing the Cabinet of Curiosities are an array of interaction tables that work in tandem with the vitrines, bending to encourage circulation and also to enhance both intimate and communal engagement with the products.
