Swatch

Locations: Bleeker Street + Columbus Avenue
New York, NY

Areas: 626 sq. ft. / 430 sq. ft.

Swatch the internationally recognized Swiss watch company was starting to open their own shops worldwide. The design concept and fixtures were designed by Mendini Design Studio in Milan, Italy. Our services were required to transform the design concept to meet U.S. standards, materials, building codes and A.D.A. for their first two stores in the U.S.

The first store was located in Greenwich Village and the second on the Upper West Side of N.Y.C. Both locations were high traffic corners in landmark buildings.

The design problems included trying to fit A.D.A. size bathrooms in small European size shops. All of the specialty lighting and cabinet wiring had to be replaced with U.L. approved fixtures. Coordination was required with the design firm in Milan and the cabinetshop in Hong Kong to meet an accelerated construction time frame.

The Greenwich Village shop included a special exterior storefront using “Logos” a new product mixing glass granules of different colors with an organic amalgam made in panels. The modern details had to be worked into the old building construction. An interior stair was removed to create more floor space.

The Columbus Avenue shop included a three sided aluminum and glass storefront with decorative moldings and pilasters added by the landlord as part of a building renovation. The interior is so small that it created a challenge to fit all of the requirements with half of the wall space full height glass. Tight ceiling conditions also affected the HVAC layout and custom mirror ceiling details.

Each store includes a mural by a local artist.