After more than 20 years at Vidal Sassoon, styling hair and managing operations in London and North America, Peter Bradley teamed with Sassoon colleague Dirk Diegel to launch an upscale establishment in Boston, where the German-born Diegel had been based for 14 years. Dubbed “a salon that transcends trends and celebrates individual beauty,” the pair’s two-year-old eponymous business makes its home on the second floor of a typical row house in the city’s tony Back Bay neighborhood. The spare yet comfortable space, designed by Studio Luz Architects, not only communicates the owners’ mission; it provides a well-lighted, functional arena for the precision haircuts and meticulous color treatments performed by the shop’s numerous stylists.
Gallery-quality, shadow-free illumination with accurate color rendering was among the clients’ top priorities. Architects Hansy Better Barraza and Anthony Piermarini, Studio Luz coprincipals, anticipated a challenge when they first saw the 1,200-square-foot floor-through site, a former spa that had been sectioned into a warren of closed rooms. But as the interior was being demolished, they discovered three skylights blocked off by the existing ceiling in the back half of the 92-foot-long space, which becomes the building’s top floor at that point. (The front of the shop has two floors above it.) “It was a great discovery!” notes Piermarini — one that would define the overall design strategy.
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