© Hisao Suzuki
The project consisted of the refurbishment of a 1960s’ three-storey office building for use as a menswear shop for the fashion designer Joseph. The building was stripped back to its core and its main structural elements. The existing precast concrete facade was removed and replaced with transparent panes of glass 6 m high, which create a strong visual link on three faces between the street and the open-plan retail spaces on the ground and first floors. These spaces are surrounded by an internal colonnade. The existing windows on the second floor were covered with stainless-steel mesh, which obscures the view to the office spaces and the showroom inside. The link between the two floors is formed by a large helical sculptural staircase.