Ray Ban Optical Shop

OFFICETWENTYFIVEARCHITECTS were assigned to design a Ray Ban Optical Shop in Thessaloniki. It was a challenge we had to take and the final outcome is presented today. The shop was designed to be innovative, surprising and outstanding, in order to follow the company’s mentality.
The shop is situated within an old building in the shopping heart of Thessaloniki. The building is listed, so the design possibilities of the façade and shop window were extremely limited.
First, we hade to produce a shop that could display 200 sunglasses, within a space that was less than 40sq meters. So, everything was designed very carefully in order to provide as many display, storage, serving and working spaces as possible. We thought of a cockpit and tried to be as efficient as we could in minimum space. Hidden closets, secret shelves for display and other gadgets were designed to meet the client’s functional standards. After all, Ray Ban glasses were originally designed for pilots. We had to be consistent with that notion…
The idea was to design a shop that would not only function accurately, but would look unique and “Ray Ban”. To begin with, we decided (actually we did not have a choice) to use red, black and white, which were the company’s colors. Then, we designed the shop without any corners. The floor becomes the wall and the wall becomes the ceiling producing a floating space. We used resin floors and paints in order to unify all space elements and give the impression that the shop was made as one piece in the factory and was just assembled there. Black lacquered wood, backlit glass and mirrors constructed the furnishing.