Jewellery Store Schullin I (façade)
Vienna, Austria · 1974
Photo · Photo by Studio Hollein/Jerzy Surwillo, Vienna
A seminal postmodern storefront precedent by Hans Hollein demonstrating how a rigid stone facade can be ruptured by organic, highly polished metal elements to create a dramatic retail threshold.
- What we like about this project
- The upper fissure contains a cluster of dark pipes resembling geological basalt columns, which house the light sources.
Materials
- granite
- polished-brass
- bronze
- glass
Visual identifiers
- organic-fissure
- polished-brass
- granite-cladding
- jewelry-display
- hans-hollein
Style tags
- postmodern
- avant-garde
- sculptural
- expressive
Visual tags
- postmodernism
- sculptural-facade
- storefront-design
- organic-geometry
- luxury-retail
- Geometry
- A rectangular granite-clad facade is dramatically ruptured by an organic, fluidly sculpted brass fissure that flows down to form the entrance portal and extends upward into a cavernous void.
- Facade system
- Stone rainscreen cladding integrated with custom sculptural metal framing.
- Structural guess
- Masonry or concrete backup wall supporting stone veneer and custom metal armature.
- Spatial scale
- Intimate, human-scale storefront entrance and display window.
- Lighting
- Warm, glowing point-source lights are nestled within dark cylindrical tubes inside the upper organic fissure, casting a golden reflection on the polished brass.
- Atmosphere
- Mysterious and luxurious, evoking a geological cleft lined with hidden gold.
- Environmental context
- An upscale urban street-front retail facade in Vienna.
- Spatial experience
- The entrance feels like a threshold carved into solid stone, where the cold, rigid exterior gives way to a warm, highly polished, and reflective metallic interior lining.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetrical tension between the rigid grid of the granite tiles and the fluid, vertical tear of the brass portal.
- Style reading
- Austrian Postmodernism / Avant-Garde
- Program
- Luxury retail boutique
- Perspective
- Detail Close-up
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- granite, polished-brass, bronze, glass
- Visual identifiers
- organic-fissure, polished-brass, granite-cladding, jewelry-display, hans-hollein
- Style tags
- postmodern, avant-garde, sculptural, expressive
- Visual tags
- postmodernism, sculptural-facade, storefront-design, organic-geometry, luxury-retail
- Geometry
- A rectangular granite-clad facade is dramatically ruptured by an organic, fluidly sculpted brass fissure that flows down to form the entrance portal and extends upward into a cavernous void.
- Facade system
- Stone rainscreen cladding integrated with custom sculptural metal framing.
- Structural guess
- Masonry or concrete backup wall supporting stone veneer and custom metal armature.
- Spatial scale
- Intimate, human-scale storefront entrance and display window.
- Lighting
- Warm, glowing point-source lights are nestled within dark cylindrical tubes inside the upper organic fissure, casting a golden reflection on the polished brass.
- Atmosphere
- Mysterious and luxurious, evoking a geological cleft lined with hidden gold.
- Environmental context
- An upscale urban street-front retail facade in Vienna.
- Spatial experience
- The entrance feels like a threshold carved into solid stone, where the cold, rigid exterior gives way to a warm, highly polished, and reflective metallic interior lining.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetrical tension between the rigid grid of the granite tiles and the fluid, vertical tear of the brass portal.
- Style reading
- Austrian Postmodernism / Avant-Garde
- Program
- Luxury retail boutique
- Perspective
- Detail Close-up
- Discipline
- architecture