Paul Smith Flagship Store in Seoul by THE SYSTEM LAB

Britain`s famous fashion brand Paul Smith has unveiled its first Asian flagship store in Korea, designed by local design firm THE SYSTEM LAB in Seoul’s densely built Gangnam-gu district, a popular shopping destination filled with luxury brands. The architecture of the flagship store was designed to leave a lasting impression on the local urban environment with its highly unique shape, but it was also intended to create different stories depending on the individual’s perspectives and interpretations.

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The irregular shape of the building was influeced by a number of planning restrictions – building constraints limited the ground-floor plan to 330 square metres, but the client wanted to accommodate larger floors within the upper levels of the building. “We had to create a concrete shell with maximised floor area ratio within the legal regulations by rounding, cutting or connecting all the edges,” explains principle architect Chanjoong Kim.

Moreover, THE SYSTEM LAB employed semi-gloss industrial paint to conceal commercial and structural devices and imbue freer and pleasant feelings to viewers-much like a typical design from Paul Smith.

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