Fendi Storefront Beverly Hills, California, USA
Fendi Storefront Beverly Hills, California, USA
The Fendi fashion label, founded as long ago as 1918, is today present in all the important cities of the world – from Milan to Paris, Tokyo, Boston, New York and Los Angeles. For the latter location, Peter Marino Architects and Brand + Allen Architekten designed an extravagant façade in an A1 location for the Italian designer brand. The rough character of Cor-Ten weathering steel combined with a functional glass façade lend the store the desired out-of-the-ordinary look.
The storefront divided into four glass bays is framed by a Cor-Ten column, a transverse “wave”, again in Cor-Ten steel, and a truncated cone of aluminium (with white powder-coated finish) protruding into the façade from above. The archaic look of the patina of the Cor-Ten steel dominates the overall impression of the façade. Precision working was required for the lines milled into the steel in the longitudinal direction. In order that the lines appear straight on the “wavy” steel, the optical distortion caused by the line of the waves was taken into account when programming the milling machine.
In order that passers-by can let their eyes roam across the store unhindered, the façade is made from two 12 mm laminated glass panes which offer maximum transparency. A vertical glass fin ensures the necessary stability for the storefront. The glass panes of the façade are inserted into a peripheral, concealed channel section and held in place with silicone only.
The large FENDI logo made from solid material takes up the idea of the grooved Cor-Ten cladding. To avoid disrupting the smooth, transparent appearance of the display window, the FENDI logo was laminated onto the large-format pane in the factory. The high artistic claims of this fashion label have therefore also been realised perfectly in this façade, right down to the last detail.
