It’s always refreshing to watch an ordinary, everyday commercial space be designed in a non conventional way. Take Galleria Centercity Department Store in the Korean city of Cheonan for example. This department store is UN Studio’s newest project to hit the streets. The team based the concept around the idea of the observations of current behavioral tendencies in large commercial spaces. Particularly in South East Asia, department stores serve a highly social function; people meet, gather, eat, drink and both shop and window shop in these venues. A designer at UN Studio explained:
“The department store is no longer solely a commercial space, it now offers the architect the opportunity to build upon and expand the social and cultural experience of the visitor. If today we are seeing the museum as a supermarket, then we are also now seeing the department store as a museum.”
The stark white and fluorescent interiors reflect the idea of a social museum setting, yet in certain spaces there are moments of bold colors, mostly in lighting effects which truly creates a new experience for shoppers.
On the exterior, the double layered facades are articulated in a trompe l’oeuil pattern of vertical mullions. The design is intended to make the scale of the building unreadable; an outsider would have a hard time guessing how many floors there are. “On the inside, this play with scale and dimension is continued in a way that is at least as radical as the outside. Upon entering, the department store is revealed as a layered and varied space which encourages investigation and unfolds as you move through and up the building.”
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