The concept for the new living department at the de Bijenkorf department store in The Hague, Holland was built around the idea of an open plan house with a ‘spine’ of rooms, around the main circulation routes.

Key routes were emphasised by a raised bamboo ceiling and structural columns clad in glass mosaics. Sections of the window elevations were opened up to become department focal points, breaking away from huge floor plates of artificially lit product by introducing daylight, ‘just like at home’. The perimeter merchandising system has been placed ‘in’ rather than on the walls to give a greater feeling of depth and to help punctuate long runs of product.

The departmental and merchandise finishes change to differentiate departments: walnut, laminate and glass evoking a residential palette. The solution to the historically difficult lighting department was to subdivide the product into translucent acrylic boxes to avoid the usual clutter of pendant lights, with the acrylic boxes glowing from the ‘borrowed’ light of the fittings on sale.

A smart solution here also saw us identify a previously traffic-only area and put it to use as a chair showroom sales space.

see also:

sport - The Hague
books - Amsterdam