A travertine ramp varieties the centrepiece of the Vans West Finish retailer in London, which was remodelled by architect Andrea Caputo to have a good time skateboarding, music and artwork.
American attire and equipment model Vans appeared to its skateboarding heritage when growing the idea for its retailer on London’s Oxford Avenue, which it has occupied since 2019.
Caputo’s Milan-based studio oversaw the transformation of the shop, which celebrates skateboarding tradition by way of its daring design and direct references to the game.
The primary characteristic that runs the size of the shop is a 200-square-metre skate ramp constructed from travertine stone that was developed with enter from Vans’ workforce of skateboarding ambassadors.
“Designed as a single immense block of stone, totally laid and polished on-site, the ramp would be the beating coronary heart of the shop,” mentioned Vans, “used for normal skate classes, demos and occasions by the Vans skate workforce and native skate colleges.”
The ramp is split alongside its size into totally different sections that type obstacles for performing methods. This “multi-transition” configuration resembles an prolonged half pipe with a dramatic vertical wall at one finish.
When not in employ for skating, the ramp’s modules may be reconfigured to supply seating or merchandising stands.
A sequence of perforated glass panels that perform like peg boards will also be added to reinforce the retail shows.
The modular set-up permits the inside to be simply reconfigured so it could actually carry out its on a regular basis position as a retail area, in addition to internet hosting actions and occasions equivalent to stay music exhibits or artwork exhibitions.
Different references to skateboarding featured all through the shop embrace the plywood used for wall panelling and product shows, which remembers the materiality of standard skate ramps.
The plywood was carved to create an irregular three-dimensional floor supposed to evoke the best way skate boarders “grind” the steel elements of their boards alongside ramps, rails and copings.
The remainder of the inside has a stripped again, industrial aesthetic, with a concrete flooring and uncovered ducting contributing to a way of city authenticity.
Vans West Finish will current a variety of Vans merchandise alongside curated partnerships with manufacturers equivalent to jewellers The Nice Frog and inventive studio Gomi, which produced a set of checkered audio system and powerbanks completely for the shop.
Caputo beforehand designed a retailer for Vans in Seoul, South Korea, that includes plywood show modules knowledgeable by the work of American artists Carl Andre and Donald Judd. Final 12 months, Vans unveiled a transient skate bowl in entrance of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris.
