3.1 Phillip Lim — Los Angeles, California

Date: 2008
Status: Complete
Category: Commercial, Retail
Size: 7,000 s.f.
Team: Brian Price, Jon Lott, Giancarlo Valle
Collaborators: Para-Project, Leong Architects

Located in West Hollywood, a 7,000-square-foot existing building is transformed into 3.1 Phillip Lim’s first West Coast flagship store. By introducing a thick, curving wall within the existing building envelope, one large main space unfolds into four smaller nooks. Mirrors along the walls enhance the capaciousness of the store and create visual continuity between adjacent spaces. The curving geometry and thickness of the wall allows for the conventional methods of lighting and display to be reconfigured through the logic of the niche, while a single, continuous, light-diffusing membrane floats above the space, providing a sense of depthlessness.

Like a well-constructed garment, the curving wall has a inner and outer linings. The various spaces generated by the curving wall are lined with textures to create varying atmospheres.