kelvinthengono

The project urges for a design that seeks great flexibility and openness, where the spaces could host any possible retail scenarios. Thus, we designed a schematic situation for a cafe, an art gallery and a yoga space, basing on the owner’s ideal retail situation. These three commercial spaces are accommodated with a semi-basement level as an extension parking to the ground level.

Aside from building on a strategic location, a captivating storefront is important to draw interests from both commercial renters and general crowd alike. For this purpose, we design a mass that is lifted and clamped between two distinguished concrete service core; The front serves as vertical circulations, and the back accommodates for back-end service programs such that of kitchen and bathrooms. The creation of storefront mass is highlighted by extruding it out, creating a pronounced cantilevered volume that creates surfaces turned into a roofing for the 1^st floor, and a terrace for the 3^rd floor.

The storefront mass is clad with a double skin system of poly carbonate that sandwiches an illuminating strip of light. The frosting property of the storefront creates a shadowing silhouettes of people or objects inside the volume staging a dynamic and intriguing wayang performance from the street level at night. The semi-transparency on the 2^nd floor facade distinguishes its accommodation for an art gallery or other commercial programs alike, where privacy from the public eye is required.

Nested underneath the 2^nd floor is a continuous urban carpet that rolls in from the streets to the 1^st floor level of the building. Designated as a cafe, the 1^st floor is wrapped in a frameless curtain walls to blur the boundary of indoor-outdoor and to create a complete transparency from the streets. The 3^rd floor is designed in similar fashion, heightening the focus point to the storefront. All these design factors are purposely made to offer intriguing commercial spaces that may fit to various retail scenarios.