EMPORIUM
Project Type: Retail Store
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan
Completion: August 2011
Completion: August 2011
Scope of Services: Interior design & Product design for displays and furniture
Awards: International Property Awards 2012-13
GARDE successfully competed and won a design competition for the Emporium, a large multi-brand store in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The new, 2.500-square-meter store, developed by Sinteks MMC, is located at the marina of Baku's scenic bay overlooking the Caspian Sea. GARDE provided a variety of services from master planning to schematic designed with a narrow 8-meter detail, created a unique shopping experience.
"To bring the concept alive, we created a series of slopes to connect the retail spaces, inserted balconies inspired by the ones in Baku city, and used squares and arabesque shapes to connect with the local culture. To address the biggest challenge of fitting everything into such narrow space, we came up with the idea of dividing the space into three floors. To avoid a claustrophobic feel, we randomly placed shapes throughout the space and along the sides of the slopes. The variety of shapes and varying heights(between 2.2 and 7 meters)further helped open up the space."
