With the facade design for the Paul Smith Store on Albemarle Street in London, 6a Architects has set up a relationship between the fabric used in the designer’s offbeat items of clothing and London’s industrial past. The cast iron skin harks back to the eighteenth century, the period in which the building was erected; the material led to new branches of industry in the Great Britain of the day and has remained ubiquitous on the streets until the present day in the form of bridges, lanterns and balcony grilles.
The raised pattern of circles on the facade, which overlap and thereby yield a complex structure, are evidence of a playful engagement with the ornamentation of the era and brings to mind in its modern interpretation the fine fabrics upon which the British designer’s renown is based.
Semi-circular glass vitrines serve as display windows and provide partial glimpses into the showroom of the extension to the shop. The architects borrowed the curves from the historic storefronts located in the vicinity.
The cast-iron panels were developed using a combination of modern and traditional manufacturing methods: the geometry came about with the assistance of a computer program, and the polyurethane moulds were produced on a CNC mill, while the ductile cast iron received its final form – with raised pattern and integrated hooks – through the use of the conventional (CNC-mill produced) sand moulds. Then the panels were given time to oxidise before a tannin-based rust converter was employed to stop the process and give the cast iron its dark tone.
The raised pattern of circles on the facade, which overlap and thereby yield a complex structure, are evidence of a playful engagement with the ornamentation of the era and brings to mind in its modern interpretation the fine fabrics upon which the British designer’s renown is based.
Semi-circular glass vitrines serve as display windows and provide partial glimpses into the showroom of the extension to the shop. The architects borrowed the curves from the historic storefronts located in the vicinity.
The cast-iron panels were developed using a combination of modern and traditional manufacturing methods: the geometry came about with the assistance of a computer program, and the polyurethane moulds were produced on a CNC mill, while the ductile cast iron received its final form – with raised pattern and integrated hooks – through the use of the conventional (CNC-mill produced) sand moulds. Then the panels were given time to oxidise before a tannin-based rust converter was employed to stop the process and give the cast iron its dark tone.