Max&Co Omotesando

The brief told about authenticity, brand values end efficiency; the idea of a building open to the city, welcoming, elegant and iconic. Our ambition was to start a process that can develop design values in a collaborative approach with our client. To build an original design piece with an inner quality, carefully designed and crafted. A building that can have a strong dialogue with the context where it take place. All the directions we explored and the decisions we made reflect on this process and on our way to interiorize Tokyo as urban landscape.  

One of the way we can try to describe our design approach is a composition of few architectural elements shaped and displayed in an attempt to link Italian and Japanize history of architectural forms. From Italian rationalism to Japanize classical tradition, in the building you can find elements or materials or a way to approach the space that reflect this way. Japan in our mind is the other one we having a dialog with, a different cultural world to learn from and to talk with. From Italian architecture here we have the materiality, from the Japanize one the care on the detail, the execution method. The challenge of this project is to be original and unique, rather cuddly and welcoming, simple and flexible in the use.

The building is a composition of a few familiar architectural elements: a column displayed in a transparent box, two golden staircases climbing till a golden pergola overlooking the city. A stone bench on a sidewalk, like a public art piece make a pause in the busy flux of this street. The spirit and the soul of brand behind it here is definitely express through colors and some key materials. Anyway in this project we brought them further, with new combinations and a wider palette, to build a deeper impression of relaxed elegance, but with a touch of irony and with an arty twist. Stepping inside of this new building the atmosphere is very involving.

 The space is unique. A mix of elegant comfortable furniture elements and strongly iconic architectural pieces. Floors are littered with natural walnut wood and pastel colored displays and tables, facing a fabulous Cipollino marble iconic pilaster and the two staircases nestled as a sculptural and dynamic background. Space is designed to give an immediate and clear idea on how to move in it. This architecture has a sense of clarity. From inside transparency and openness to the outside make you always feel surrounded by nature.

The big beautiful trees of Omotesando street filter the natural light giving an intense atmosphere that change with the seasons. Is like to shop in a park but in the center of the city, with a theatrical touch, few meters from the crowd.  A space between a cozy apartment and an art pavilion where you can play with all the pieces exposed. An urban contemporary house suspended on the trees  like in a fairy tale where to stop by and visit a friend.