Design and product experimentation. Stone Island Global Stores by AMO

In October 2022, one of the four Stone Island shops designed by the AMO team opened in Chicago, USA. The collaboration between the Italian clothing brand and the architecture studio was undertaken with the mission to create a new identity for the physical shops.

The opening of the new shops consolidates the brand's existing presence and sets a foundation for the community. The shops, in addition to their commercial function, open as spaces for experimentation and collaboration, highlighting the brand's dedication to renewal.

AMO reflects in the architecture of the new Stone Island shops, the brand's approach to product design and material experimentation, by treating materials to make them acquire different appearances and properties.

The Italian brand's characteristic "concrete" is materialized through recycled paper and resins compressed under high pressure. The cork, which functions as the central element of the tents, becomes dark and textured through a burning process, maintaining its acoustic absorbing and humidity-controlling properties. On the ceiling, a digital screen hangs broadcasting to users the history and references that have marked Stone Island's identity.

Stone Island Global Stores by AMO. Photograph by Marco Cappelletti.

Description of project by AMO

Long before social media, Stone Island built a loyal community of followers, drawn by the brand’s devotion to research and technology. The new stores – in Chicago, Seoul, Munich, Stockholm – complement Stone Island’s current online presence. Here, the physical and virtual journeys come together.

The new stores are the base for Stone Island’s community. Altar-like spaces and objects resonate with the rituals of the followers and appeal to new customers. Niches for archive pieces and prototypes – results of years of experimentation in Stone Island’s lab in Ravarino – and dedicated rooms for collaboration and processes highlight the brand’s dedication to innovation. The stores serve the community beyond opening hours; public presentations, salons, workshops and private events take place here.

The architecture of the new stores reflects Stone Island’s approach to product design and experimentation on materiality. Off-the-shelf materials go through unique treatments to acquire different appearances and properties. Recycled paper and resins are compressed under high pressure to become Stone Island’s own defined "concrete". Cork – the central material to the Stone Island stores – is burnt, sandblasted and coated, turning dark and textured, while remaining sound absorbent and humidity controlling. Corrugated steel panels, sand-coated, acquire a soft surface. A chandelier-like digital display, suspended from the ceiling, broadcasts Stone Island’s culture, music, and storytelling to its community.

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More information

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Architects

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AMO - OMA. Director AMO.- Samir Bantal. Jefes de proyecto.- Natalie Konopelski, Giulio Margheri, Mateusz Kiercz.

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Project team

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Concept.- Samir Bantal, Marina Bonet, Valerio Di Festa, Kael Fineout, Camille Filbien, Giulio Margheri, Mateusz Kiercz, Natalie Konopelski, Adam Kouki, Andrea Masini.
Stores.- Samir Bantal, Kael Fineout, Mateusz Kiercz, Andrea Masini, Giovanni Nembrini, Caterina Solini.

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Collaborators

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Tim Hooijmans, Tim Teven Studio, Elvis Wesley, Studio Corkhino.

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Client

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Stone Island.

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Area

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180 sqm.

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Dates

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Opening.- October 2022.

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Location

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Chicago, USA.

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Photography

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Marco Cappelletti.

Laboratorio de ideas de la Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). AMO

AMO is the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), co-founded by Rem Koolhaas in 1999. Applying architectural thinking to domains beyond building, AMO has worked with Prada, the European Union, Universal Studios, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Condé Nast, Harvard University, and the Hermitage. It has produced exhibitions, including Expansion and Neglect (2005) and When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013 (2013) at the Venice Biennale; The Gulf (2006), Cronocaos (2010), Public Works (2012), and Elements of Architecture (2014) at the Venice Architecture Biennale; and Serial Classics and Portable Classics (both 2015) at Fondazione Prada, Milan and Venice, respectively.

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a coloured "barcode" flag – combining the flags of all member states – that was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU.

AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including The Gulf (2006), Cronocaos (2010) and Public Works (2012) and for Fondazione Prada including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its principle publication Elements. Other notable projects are a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

Samir Bantal

Samir Bantal is the director of AMO, the think- tank founded by Rem Koolhaas in 1998, which enables OMA to apply its architectural thinking beyond architecture, to the fields of design, technology, media and art.

Samir Bantal rejoined OMA in 2015 after working at the office between 2003 and 2007 on a number of projects ranging from product design, research, architecture and master planning. Samir was involved in the Image of Europe, an exhibition on the history and meaning of the European Union, rebranding the European flag. He worked on a new proposal for the Shanghai Expo of 2010, a master plan for Riga Port City and several exhibitions for the Venice Biennale. He was project architect of the Ras Al Khaimah master plan (2006) and Jebel Al Jais Resort (2006). Samir also contributed to a number of publications by AMO, such as Project Japan (2011) and Al Manakh I (2007).

Before joining OMA, Samir worked for Toyo Ito, and was associate professor at Delft Univeristy of Technology in the fields of architecture and urbanism. Between 2008-2012 he was editor of the Annual Architecture Yearbook of the Netherlands.

Currently, Samir is responsible for the new retail concept for the luxury car brand Genesis in Seoul, Korea. Also with AMO, Samir is currently working on 3 exhibitions. In Qatar, AMO explores the role of modern architecture in the development of the city of Doha, opening March 2019. Together with the Harvard School of Design, Samir leads Countryside, a comprehensive research project that investigates the interaction between the city and the countryside, which will culminate in an exhibition in the Guggenheim in New York early 2020. Lastly, ‘Figures of Speech’ will show at the MCA Chicago in June 2019. The design of the exhibition, a retrospective on the work of renown designer Virgil Abloh, is a collaboration between Samir and Virgil Abloh.

Published on: January 3, 2023

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