Wednesday Whim - Miu Miu + Herzog & De Meuron

all images via  Miu Miu / Herzog & de Meuron via Design Boom

While it wouldn't take much convincing for me to walk into any designer store, this Miu Miu store in Tokyo's Aoyama district would be especially attractive - and not just for the designer pieces inside.

The building is designed by Swiss architects, Herzog & De Meuron. Due to zoning regulations that inhibited the height of the building, the designers tried different architectural elements to explore a smaller and more intimate building design. Working with the notion of designing more of a home than a department store, being more hidden than open and being more opaque than transparent, they decided on featuring a sloped,metallic façade that creates visual interest towards the store underneath versus an ostentatious logo display. The rounded, soft edges of the copper surfaces inside meet the razor-sharp steel corners on the outside of the metal box. Once inside, the bold use of green and orange colors, sofas and armchairs and copper material invites the customers to linger, shop and enjoy the store's ambiance.

Well, Miu Miu, I wouldn't mind stepping inside and staying a while.