LA studio PlayLab Inc has created a flagship store that contains a sky blue conversation pit at its centre for local clothing brand MadHappy.
PlayLab Inc split the West Hollywood store into two distinct zones – one for retail space and the other for “intimate gathering spaces”, including a cafe and a courtyard.
PlayLab Inc has created a flagship store for LA clothing brand MadHappy
“Our collective goal with the design was to put space for conversation at the heart of the retail experience, creating a place that is equal parts for community dialogue and product,” PlayLab Inc co-founder Jeff Franklin told Dezeen.
“To do this we split the space down the middle, making one half a clear utility for shopping and the other a collection of intimate gathering spaces.”
The space was divided into separate zones for gathering and retail
Visitors enter the 2,800-square-foot (260-square-metre) store through a glass facade, which leads into a large open space with powder blue concrete flooring running throughout.
At the entrance, a blue bench emerges from a small exterior porch, while a boulder sits opposite.
A cafe and courtyard were placed at the back of the store
Towards one side, the store contains a 70’s style conversation pit underneath a large skylight. Plush, sky-blue couches line the seating area, with satin aluminium side tables by Berlin-based studio New Tendency placed alongside them.
Along an adjacent limewashed wall, the studio installed built-in shelving flanked by large custom wooden speakers by New York music studio designer Danny Keith Taylor of House Under Magic.
The courtyard was populated with a single tree and green-stained plywood stools by Waka Waka
The social area leads into a small open-air courtyard populated by a single Tree Aloe installed by Cactus Store and green-stained plywood stools by LA studio Waka Waka.
The same green plywood was used to line the takeout window of the store’s Pantry cafe, which sits in an enclosed corner and serves local and global cuisines from brands including Japanese-based café Hotel Drugs and LA bakery Courage Bagels.
Custom signage was installed along the cafe’s takeout window
A custom lightbox and a large standing menu were installed next to the takeout window to display the cafe’s signage and goods.
In the remaining interior, PlayLab Inc created a large metallic “retail bar” that spans the shop’s length for “open views of the product”, according to Franklin. The studio also dispersed custom Lego-like benches around the space, which were covered in a candy apple red gloss.
The store will act as a retail space and venue
Faux-stone stools and a bench were installed throughout the space.
The store also contains a multimedia room, called the Local Optimist Space, a creative venue that will host audio and visual artwork.
“The design was inspired by the concept of conversation between things – a balance of scales, materials and textures,” said Franklin.
This is the first flagship store for the clothing brand MadHappy, which previously operated from a host of pop-up concepts and stores.
Local designers worked on furniture and other pieces for the store
“From the beginning, physical retail has been essential to Madhappy and its success. We’ve always viewed our shops as spaces that go beyond something purely transactional – we want them to allow our community to engage with Madhappy beyond what’s possible digitally,” MadHappy co-founder Mason Spector said in a statement.
Other recent projects by PlayLab Inc also include a plexiglass skatepark for Vans and a lifesize toy racetrack set for a Louis Vuitton menswear show.
1. Every part of society needs to be included in the transition
The original purpose of ChangeNOW was to showcase entrepreneurs trying to solve concrete issues. But this year the summit included a broad mix of people – from big brands to investors, activists, and artists. Lefebvre explains that this is because the team increasingly understands that the transition to a sustainable world needs to integrate every part of society. What we need, he argues, is complementary strategies because: “If you attack the system on just one side you can’t really change it.”
2. You can look at the issues differently
Lefebvre highlights that CEOs and policymakers at ChangeNOW are discovering frameworks and tools such as Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics and MIT’s Climate Pathways. These are helping them to shift their mindset, and approach old issues with fresh eyes.
3. Connections are key
This year, ChangeNOW has brought together changemakers from all over the world. And while travelling such a long distance is a big commitment, the opportunity for stakeholders to connect is invaluable. For example, Lefebvre highlights how the director of The Great Green Wall, a project pursuing reforestation in the Sahel region of Africa, met the president of COP 15, Alain-Richard Donwahi, for the first time at ChangeNOW.
4. The agenda is broader than climate
ChangeNOW is moving beyond a conventional focus on climate alone, with Lefebvre highlighting that there are four main equations that we must solve together: the climate, biodiversity, resources, and inclusion. Solving these one by one would take many decades, and the planet doesn’t have time for that. We must therefore tackle them at the same time.
5. We need courage
As we make the transition to a more sustainable world, many people will need to show courage. Lefebvre points to the inspiration of one of ChangeNOW’s keynote speakers, Francisco Vera, who, at just nine years old, created a climate change education platform in Colombia. He did this despite the pressures that this brought on him.
To find out more about ChangeNOW and to watch replays of the talks at the 2023 summit click here.
Rain Harvest Home – is located within Reserva el Peñón, a landscape-driven development which has achieved water self-sufficiency for a community of 80 families in 450 acres of a nature reserve, two hours from Mexico City. The Reserve framed our thinking around sustainability generally, and rainwater harvesting specifically. It pushed us to think at a larger level where the whole Reserve became the site, and the home was one piece of that. We also thought about how we could explore the larger issues of water conservation in Mexico, with this being an example of how to harvest rainwater on a small scale that could then apply to other projects. That became a driver in a powerful way. It was an idea that evolved over the course of the design process, and as the client became increasingly interested in cultivating a healthy, holistic lifestyle where they could live in harmony with the land.
Architizer chatted with Robert Hutchison from Robert Hutchison Architecture, and Javier Sanchez from JSa Arquitectura, to learn more about this project.
Architizer: What inspired the initial concept for your design?
Robert Hutchison & Javier Sanchez: The brief was simple: the clients wanted a small cabin to enjoy the mountainous site. Valle de Bravo has a dry season and a rainy season, and the sun plays a trick every day in both of those seasons. You can enjoy the sun, but you have to be careful with it. Here, you need to have spaces that are open and covered; enclosed and covered; and outside and uncovered. You need all three qualities, so we needed to make that happen within the three structures.
At the start, the project had a simple, classic program: 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. When we were on site, we started developing the idea of splitting up the program into separate buildings. It started with wanting to separate the function of bathing, which led to the idea of the bathhouse. And then the separate studio emerged from that.
This project won in the 10th Annual A+Awards! What do you believe are the standout components that made your project win?
Rain Harvest Home offers a model for designing regeneratively with water. The home is 100% water autonomous and, in times of surplus, it is water positive and feeds excess water back into the community’s larger reservoir system. Not only does the design help restore the microclimate of the site, but it stands as a testament to the potential of rainwater harvesting for off-grid, self-contained water systems that eliminate reliance on municipal water sources. At the same time, the element of water contributes to the overall spatial and experiential quality of the project, reconnecting people with their environment by engaging the senses. More than any other element, conserving and improving the quality of water as a precious resource has the potential to dramatically improve the health and sustainability of built environments in Mexico, and beyond.
What was the greatest design challenge you faced during the project, and how did you navigate it?
Integrating the rainwater system was an initial design challenge, and continues to be an everyday challenge. Now, the rain harvesting system and on-site reservoir are a learning laboratory where the clients are continually learning about how the system performs. Understanding that the water and food systems on site are part of a living process that fluctuates depending on changing natural conditions, the client continues to experiment in ways to optimize the system through seasonal calibrations and refinements. Nothing is as objective as science would make it seem because things are always changing over time depending on how much it rains, and when. The house has to live with that, and it’s a constant learning experience for us as designers. It’s about integrating design into the cycle of water and of life.
How did the context of your project — environmental, social or cultural — influence your design?
The site is relatively flat, but sits within a mountainous environment. All around are cliffs and steep slopes, but our site rests in a small plateau vegetated with continuous, single-story-high shrubs and brush. Because of these site conditions, we wanted to make the buildings disappear within the vegetation. This is why we designed a series of three low pavilions that nestle into the landscape and are dispersed across the site. We wanted a strong connection between each building and the landscape. Often as architects, we think about how spaces are created between buildings, but this was about letting the landscape be that interstitial space. The landscape becomes the connection between the buildings, just as it delineates the spaces between them. When you move through the site, there’s an experience of the buildings constantly disappearing and reappearing. It’s a process of discovery.
How important was sustainability as a design criteria as you worked on this project?
Within La Reserva, each home is required to incorporate rain harvesting, with most of it coming from the individual home’s rainwater harvesting system and a small portion coming from the reserve’s reservoirs. We wanted to try and raise the bar and see if we could harvest 100% of our water from our individual site, rather than depend on external sources. This was important because there is a major water shortage in Mexico City, which is absurd because it rains a lot, but we don’t harvest that rainwater. Instead, we pump water in and out from the valley. As designers, we need to talk about those issues within our designs and experiment with new possibilities. Sometimes when you have a built example, it’s easier to understand new possibilities, particularly around rainwater harvesting.
