Honor Award
New Steuben Flagship Store
Location
New York
Client
Steuben Inc.
Design Firm
Ralph Appelbaum Associates, New York
Design Team
Ralph Appelbaum (Principal in Charge), Jack Pascarosa, Rick Sobel, Jessica Holbrook, Nadia Coen, George Cooper, Allegra Burnette
Fabricators
Showtime Exhibit Builders Inc., S&G Woodworking, Corcoran Marble and Monument Company, A.S.F. Glass, Inc., Wall Track Systems Inc., Consolidated Carpet Work Inc., Blumcraft of Pittsburgh, Pook, Diemont & OHL, Inc.
Consultants
Lockwood Greene (architect), F.J. Sciame Construction Co, Inc. (construction manager), Johnson Schwinghammer (lighting), Scharff Weisberg (audiovisual)
Photographer
©Peter Mauss/Esto
This store design transmits the culture of Steuben through its appearance and educational videos, making it more accessible and creating a framework for continuing change. The designers changed the relationship between the object and the customer, inviting people to congregate around the circular display tables and experience the glass intimately, thus creating a museum-like educational experience in a retail environment. Flooded with outdoor light, the character of the room changes with each passing cloud. At night, a computer-generated light program becomes a dancing rainbow off the convex underbelly of the mezzanine, while the shifting colors are refracted from every piece of glass on display. It is truly a store that never sleeps.
Jury Comment
"This store repositions a company I used to think of as a nice glass manufacturer into a maker of products I lust after. Using museum lighting and presence while allowing close contact with the products is a tightrope walk. The monitor in the table is an unexpected touch and gives a fresh attitude to a product steeped in tradition."
"The incorporation of curtains and fabric with dynamic lighting allows the products to have their own museum presence. The street view was quite ethereal, especially the glowing curtains."
"A stoic and subdued signage program for an upscale brand. Use of creative lighting draws attention to the crystal and its inherent properties."