The challenge of fitting the most diverse luxury lifestyle product range in the country in the smallest possible space at the most expensive retail space per sqft in Asia evolves the Good Earth Khan Market store into the biggest little shop ever!
The brief to create an urban haven for one of India’s leading luxury lifestyle brands came with a complicated trapezoidal site strewn with six randomly positioned and shaped columns.
Key ideas such as ''meandering discovery, layers of product categories and luxury in presentation'' guided the conceptual customer movement and layout. Lucknow’s famous ‘Bhool Bhulaiya’ fell in step as an analogous inspiration. The main material palette of stained plywood, brick and cement board was chosen to contrast with the luxury range. The interior shell of the crumbling structure was stripped bare to brick and concrete and reinforced with steel girders and columns, leaving a naturally distressed urban canvas for the remaining story to unfold.
The irregularity of the space was molded into an asset, with layers of floor to ceiling shelving laid out in a strict rectangular geometry that slices through the oddly-shaped spatial void, creating a delightful wandering path. Ribbons of multi-functional overhead storage float below the Gold-Leafed exposed concrete ceiling, tying the space together, serving as up-lighting beams and as the principal conduit for electrical cabling and AC units. Not a single space was left unutilized, with even the restroom discreetly tucked away behind clever shelving.
The lighting has been carefully planned to bathe the products in a ‘daylight’ like environment, with the rest of the space playing with chiaroscuro, rendered in tones of shadow and light. Floor-to-ceiling screens of screen-printed muslin form ‘jaalis’ to soften the through views between spaces. A façade of charcoal grey, louvered wooden shutters and plum-stained plate glass windows, together complete the picture of an oasis in the midst of urban activity in Delhi’s most dynamic and lively market.