Australian architecture firm March Studio has created a striking store design for skin, hair and body-care label Aesop Hong Kong. The design studio’s 17th signature store for Aesop, located on Gough Street, sits on a bustling corner in Hong Kong’s Central and serves more to preserve the existing heritage building than to innovate with the space. “Rather than working against it, the first challenge to overcome was to embrace the shape of the site,” said a March Studio spokesperson.
“Being present and visible from two thirds of its sides, and being a wedge shape cut on the angle by Aberdeen Street, a central square counter with free standing, oscillating testing sinks was the solution.
“The rear wall lends itself to the product, an existing spiral stair is retained. The layout however, relies on the floor being levelled across a 700mm differential, from front to back. In this case, a glass brick floor is allowed to flourish.”
The designers acknowledge the posture of passers-by, given the gradient of streets in this area, sees them constantly looking at the ground deciding on which step to take next. “It was fitting therefore, that the gesture at Gough Street became a ground-scape,” said March Studio.
Aesop characterises the store as “an abstraction of Hong Kong’s urban fabric in glass and steel, revealing rather than concealing the site’s rough textures”.
