Milan-based architect Matteo Thun strives to “respect the soul of a place.” So when the German fashion giant Hugo Boss tapped him to design a new concept shop that would showcase all of its tony brands within a gutted former food market in New York City’s Meatpacking District, he developed a program influenced by the site’s gritty past and urban locale. Thun’s design for the store also reflects the corporate image he began crafting with his architecture in 2006 for the Switzerland-based headquarters of the company’s Strategic Business unit. There, he devised a daylight-filled, low-lying building that nestles into a bucolic setting—its glazed curtain wall enveloped by a wooden latticelike “super” structure evocative of the surrounding vineyards.
The architect realized this strategy for the New York City space through a seemingly simple yet intricate intervention. He fit two thirds of the gutted 4,035-square-foot interior with a scaled-down modular variation of the Swiss headquarters’ cross-hatched superstructure. Made out of white oak, this curvilinear grid is much more than an architectonic reference, however. It creates a bold yet inviting juxtaposition with the old market’s original concrete structure, which Thun left virtually intact as a raw backdrop. Additionally, the arched trellislike form provides a flexible base for the store’s lighting and display systems. “It’s pure function,” says Thun. “And it never touches the structure of the building.”
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