Lotte is South Korea’s major luxury retailer with department stores across Asia. For their first major new project in seven years, they looked to the contemporary and progressive international design style of Shed to reimagine ‘a different kind’ of retail experience for their customers in Dongtan. Not only was the brief to design a multi-floor concept they hadn’t imagined for the brand before, but the space was to be the largest store in the province at 246,000 sqm and was to attract high-end retailers such as Chanel and Dior.
Drawn to our ground-breaking projects for prestigious retailers Harrods, as well as imaginative story-telling for Level at the Dubai Mall and the Shinsegae department store in Seoul, Shed was appointed lead interior architects to conceive the unique retail design for three of the main floors.
The challenge: each floor was to be distinctly rich in character and depth of experience, yet all united in their aim to offer a customer-first experience.
The result: Story-telling design at its finest, with each floor creating a memorable and distinct shopping experience: the flowing shapes and forms of the Women’s Department inspired by the natural world leading to the hidden sculptures and sanctuaries in the large outdoor terrace, to a magical journey through children’s folklore and curiosities in the Children’s Department and then the surprising nod to the past with designs for the Sportwear Department derived from the historic amphitheatres of the ancient Olympics.
Lotte Dongtan, floor by floor
Floor 3. Dedicated to women’s contemporary fashion and hosting local, premium brands curated for the Lotte customer. The retail space opens out onto a large terrace, the first Lotte designed outdoor space, with flowing grasses, hidden sanctuaries and sculptures. Shed brought the outside world in by connecting retail and terrace landscapes though the use of natural materials and forms, all reimagined through a luxury lens. The result is a natural haven of luxury retail for the modern mindset of the Dongtan women.
Floor 4. A story of two halves with both a Menswear and a Children’s department. Shed celebrated the divide by creating two distinctly different worlds connected by a liminal transition space - the ‘Gateway’. The Children’s Department is wrapped in playful architecture taking you on a journey of children’s folklore and curiosities to pique the imagination of children and adults alike. Menswear is a different kind of exploration: A rich mix of past, present and future creates a destination design landscape.
Floor 5. Anchored in the historic origins of sport, the narrative of the design is derived from the amphitheatres of the ancient Olympics. Housing all things sport, this floor is unapologetic in its use of bold graphics throughout and is anchored by a central amphitheatre. The brands sit playfully in a re-imagined lunar city scape of the future.
The story-telling continues with Shed’s unique design for Lotte Seoul…
