Y's Store

RAAL were invited to design Yohji Yamamoto’s ‘Y’s’ fashion range flagship store, within the Roppongi Hills commercial and cultural district in Tokyo. Drawing inspiration from space-saving parking solutions prevalent in Tokyo, four automobile turntable mechanisms were embedded within the shop floor to allow sculptural shrouds surrounding the structural columns within them, to pirouette gently. The store seemingly reconfigures itself during the course of an average shopping visit, as ceiling and floor are held apart by four rotating masses.  Each rotating element consists of 34 stacked aluminium loops which can be moved independently. Each cantilevered loop is designed to act as sturdy hanging rail, or shelf base. The dual aspect façade is composed of an array of curved full-height glass panels, forming a glass ‘corduroy’ which offers passers-by a rippling and colourful view of the ever-changing contents of the store.