An Old Building Re-clothed. The exterior of the building is given a second skin: a screen of stainless-steel mesh that encloses the balcony and re-shapes the building.

A Clothing Store As Soft As Clothes, As Soft As Skin. PVC sheeting is pulled down from the ceiling onto the walls; it’s pulled out from the walls, and pushed back in, to make shelves; it’s pulled out and around to make a counter.

A Store On The Surface, A Store That’s All Surface. The skin glows from within; light from fluorescents, behind the PVC, is diffused throughout the store. The clothing is lit from within.

Clothes In The Jungle. The small store bulges out of itself; the non-structural walls of the old building are removed, and replaced with curving glass alcoves. Hanging clothes are displayed in each alcove, inserted within the weeds & overgrown shrubbery outside; you look at clothes in, you take clothes out of, a jungle.

Fashion Without Models. If you like how you look, in the clothes you might buy, you can activate a camera, behind the mirror. It’s you who appears on the store façade, facing the street.

Data

UNITED BAMBOO STORE, Daikanyama, Tokyo
Architect: Acconci Studio, NY, USA,
www.acconci.com
Team: Vito Acconci, Peter Dorsey, Stephen Roe, Julia Loktev, Sehzat Oner, Larry Sassi, Dario Nunez, Gia Wolff
Date: 2003
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Materials: PVC sheets, fluorescent lights, faceted glass, steel, camera, video projection, iPods & headphones
Area: 188 sq.m.

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