Architect：studiomateriality

Location：Ippokratous 3, Athens, Greece; | ;View Map

Project Year：2022

Category：Shops

With its first store opened on the island of Kefalonia back in 2014, FÜEL has since then evolved into a popular destination for web shopping, serving customers in and outside Europe. The company, which specializes in collecting fashion sportswear and street style clothing, shoes and accessories from various brands, moved in 2022 to open its second physical store, which is located in the heart of downtown Athens. Located on Ippokratous Street, in a building that once housed a well-known department store in the city, FÜEL's new store occupies 500 square meters on the ground floor and basement.

The design marries modern industrial style with the building's past. The mechanical infrastructure and the exposed concrete are some of the elements that were once hidden in the building, but now have been brought up and highlighted, constituting an integral part of the store's current image. The core of the design lies in the construction of the experience: studiomateriality focused on combining everyday images and transfusing them with a new perspective, in order to give stimuli and cause a form of nostalgia to the visitor. The entrance with its double door system, reminds the ones that one can find in banks, or jewelry shops Anyone that enters is introduced to a sightseeing tour around street images, that, at times, resembles to a gallery walk. The road signage for the client's spatial orientation intertwines with the bricks, mirrors, neon constructions and artworks, that are some more of the elements that enrich the intense character of the space.

At FÜEL, one can observe high quality standards of craftsmanship: traditional construction techniques that were used to implement modern ideas. The main area of the store is staffed by a series of constructions specially designed for it, with simple materials such as iron, wood and marble. The principle of their design was based on a modular system of metal tubes with different typologies, which can be assembled in a variety of ways, permitting the creation of endless geometries and forms. The result is a 'robotic' universe, which lends a futuristic mood to the store. This modern character is reinforced by technology, which is omnipresent in the space: screens have been placed in critical positions, operating as 'windows' into the world of FÜEL. The customer is invited to interact, as he has the possibility to browse the company's internet platform through yet another touch screen. The banners hanging in the space, having a complementary role to that of the technology, are also adaptive and can be renewed periodically. This way, almost the entire store can be transformed at any given time according to its needs: the type or quantity of the stock, the promotion of the exclusive collections it hosts, etc. The fitting rooms look like a cabin in the woods, or a garden shed. The visible storage room taking its cue from the fencing of the local outdoor sports facilities that are scattered in the Athenian neighborhoods. It 'guards' and 'imprisons' its contents with wire mesh, highlighting even more the collectability and value of the merchandise housed within it.

The space is designed in a way that the visitors keep on discovering details that surprise and excite them, like an alternative form of play.

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