Miu Miu Store by Herzog & de Meuron - Aoyama

Addicted To Retail (ATR) presents: Miu Miu Aoyama Store by Herzog & de Meuron.

From the architect. The project for Miu Miu is sited diagonally across the street from the celebrated Prada Tokyo Epicenter – also designed by Herzog & de Meuron – in an elegant neighborhood that has, over the past two decades, become a showplace of architectural invention. In contrast to the transparency of the all-glass Prada building, however, the understated metallic surface of the Miu Miu façade is opaque, which lends a more intimate quality.

"Contrary to expectations for a site that is home to so many luxury brands, Miyuki Street in Aoyama Tokyo is not particularly beautiful or elegant. The architecture is heterogeneous – a hodgepodge of freestanding buildings of different heights and shapes, with neither historical tradition nor common standards. Tokyo is pure, quintessential city, its territory exploited to the full with absolutely no leeway for the individuality that we take for granted in European cities."

Since zoning regulations called for less height, the architects explored the potential of a smaller, more intimate building, channelled by the following thoughts: more like a home than a department store, more hidden than open, more understated than extravagant, more opaque than transparent. The typological model that best suited these considerations was a box placed directly at the level of the street, its cover slightly open to mark the entrance and allow pedestrians to look inside. Only then do they realize that the building is a shop.

Under the oversized canopy, the two-storey interior is visible at a single glance, as if the volume had been sliced open with a big knife, turning the inside out. The rounded, soft edges of the copper surfaces inside meet with the razor-sharp steel corners on the outside of the metal box, while the cave-like niches clad in brocade face the central space of the shop like loges in a theatre. The façade has neither logo nor pomp; it is a polished, mirror-smooth surface, as if one single giant brushstroke had swept smooth the ordinarily matte surface of the steel. Instead of the anticipated see-through window, viewers encounter self-reflection. While the street is not a place that encourages lingering, the building itself is a gesture that extends an invitation to come inside and stay a while.

Tags: Miu Miu, Herzog & de Meuron, Aoyama, Tokyo, Prada