Retti Candleshop (exterior)
Vienna, Austria · 1965
Photo · Photo by Franz Hubmann, Vienna
A seminal precedent for a micro-scale retail facade that uses precision-milled aluminum cladding and a symbolic, geometric cutout to create a highly visible, jewel-like entry sequence within a historic streetscape.
- What we like about this project
- The tiny, hinged display boxes on either side of the entrance that project outward like open shutters.
Materials
- aluminum-panels
- glass
- brass
- mirror
Visual identifiers
- aluminum-facade
- keyhole-opening
- display-niches
- symmetrical-storefront
- modernist-insert
Style tags
- postmodern
- avant-garde
- high-tech-craft
- monolithic-metal
Visual tags
- super-surface
- metallic
- retail-design
- vienna-avant-garde
- historic-context
- Geometry
- A symmetrical, flat metal facade featuring a central keyhole-shaped cutout. The cutout consists of a vertical slot topped by a horizontal capsule shape, flanked by two small, symmetrical projecting display niches.
- Facade system
- Brushed aluminum rainscreen panels with integrated display boxes.
- Structural guess
- Non-structural decorative cladding over an existing masonry storefront opening.
- Spatial scale
- Intimate pedestrian scale; the entire storefront is roughly one story high and the width of a single bay.
- Lighting
- Warm, intense interior light glows through the keyhole cutout, featuring a cluster of four spherical bulbs, while cool, diffused daylight reflects off the brushed aluminum exterior panels.
- Atmosphere
- A futuristic, metallic mask glowing with warm, inviting interior light.
- Environmental context
- An urban street-level storefront inserted tightly between a dark, ornate historicist portal on the left and a mid-century glazed shop window on the right.
- Spatial experience
- The facade acts as a highly polished, reflective screen that compresses the entry sequence into a narrow, glowing portal, contrasting sharply with the historic stone and wood storefronts adjacent to it.
- Composition rhythm
- Strict bilateral symmetry organized around a central vertical axis.
- Style reading
- Austrian Avant-Garde / Postmodernism
- Program
- Boutique retail shop
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- aluminum-panels, glass, brass, mirror
- Visual identifiers
- aluminum-facade, keyhole-opening, display-niches, symmetrical-storefront, modernist-insert
- Style tags
- postmodern, avant-garde, high-tech-craft, monolithic-metal
- Visual tags
- super-surface, metallic, retail-design, vienna-avant-garde, historic-context
- Geometry
- A symmetrical, flat metal facade featuring a central keyhole-shaped cutout. The cutout consists of a vertical slot topped by a horizontal capsule shape, flanked by two small, symmetrical projecting display niches.
- Facade system
- Brushed aluminum rainscreen panels with integrated display boxes.
- Structural guess
- Non-structural decorative cladding over an existing masonry storefront opening.
- Spatial scale
- Intimate pedestrian scale; the entire storefront is roughly one story high and the width of a single bay.
- Lighting
- Warm, intense interior light glows through the keyhole cutout, featuring a cluster of four spherical bulbs, while cool, diffused daylight reflects off the brushed aluminum exterior panels.
- Atmosphere
- A futuristic, metallic mask glowing with warm, inviting interior light.
- Environmental context
- An urban street-level storefront inserted tightly between a dark, ornate historicist portal on the left and a mid-century glazed shop window on the right.
- Spatial experience
- The facade acts as a highly polished, reflective screen that compresses the entry sequence into a narrow, glowing portal, contrasting sharply with the historic stone and wood storefronts adjacent to it.
- Composition rhythm
- Strict bilateral symmetry organized around a central vertical axis.
- Style reading
- Austrian Avant-Garde / Postmodernism
- Program
- Boutique retail shop
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture