Location: Bleecker Street, New York, USA Size: 8,000sq.ft
The Greenwich Village site for fashion retailer Reiss’ second US store – was carved from the detritus of a local, single-storey 5000sqft grocery and therefore needed to establish a synergy where it would both continue to perpetuate the ethos of the Reiss brand whilst also finding a snug fit within an eclectically populated neighbourhood.

Typical of the d_raw design philosophy this project was all about renewal and revitalization, creating a symbiosis between the heritage and raw energy of the space, allowing the original skeleton of the space to influence how the future environment would take shape. Influenced by a wealth of sculptural references this was later to be developed into a series of high-tech panels that represented the shifting geometrics of the natural world outside – and finally become the metallic spiders web of poles tensioned between the reclaimed oak floor and the ceiling – swerving through the length of the space. Turf and ivy planted across the masthead of the store continue to grow, constantly intertwining the urban and the organic, throwing nature right up against the concrete onslaught.

Lighting the space was a simple case of turning the inherently dark space into an advantage – spotlighting the product like precious objects to create an ambience of breathtaking intimacy while, in acknowledgement of the influence of those subcultures, and ‘underground’ art forms which give the location its highly identifiable character d_raw also employed the skill of an indigenous tattoo artist to ink a huge pattern across the vast, exposed expanse of one of the raw brick walls. The result is an environment unusually touched by its own surroundings.