UNIQLO CUBES
The HWKN designed cubes illuminate and enlighten ”The Lot” at the terminus of the opened second phase of the High Line. The cubes are equipped with glowing façades and integrated shelving structures, simple and striking at once, to host UNIQLO’s unique products. The pop-up stores showcase UNIQLO by forming simple volumes with high-tech surfaces cladding their gridded forms.
The two cubes were unloaded late in the night, completing their long journey from Seattle where they were manufactured, and then placed into location at the entrance to ”The Lot.” A section of each cube slides open like a vault, inviting people to come visit, shop the collections, and purchase the treasures that lay inside. At night all cubes glow in the dark to mark their presence. UNIQLO’s brand presence emerges from the powerful simplicity of the glowing forms and at the high level of material quality and detailing.
The rink pattern, also designed by HWKN, forms a gridded background for the cubes to lock into location. The grid, derived from an intensification of Manhattan’s urbanism, is distorted within the rink itself by imitating the vortex of the roller-blades and roller-skates circling over it.
The new roller skating rink and the two UNIQLO cubes are exciting ways to bring architecture into the lives of New Yorkers everywhere and activate the forgotten corners of the city. Marc Kushner, Cofounder and Partner, HWKN
The UNIQLO CUBES are an example what we at HWKN call Optimistic Architecture – the idea that everything we do as architects has the potential to enrich our society, including people, brands, and culture. Matthias Hollwich, Cofounder and Partner, HWKN
Project: Mobile POP-UP stores
Client: UNIQLO USA
Creative Direction: Todd Waterbury, Consultant Creative Director
Account Direction: Christian Wolfe
Media Planning: Joe Andrews
Logistics: Neverstop
Fabricator: ImagiCorps
Engineering: Dan Lofstrom
Sales Pavilion: 2 Cubes at 64 SF each
