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World Class Retail
Holt Renfrew’s new Calgary flagship store offers stunning architecture and sleek interior design.
By Cheryl Mah
With exclusive brand names and in-store boutiques such as Hermes, Tiffany & Co and Louis Vuitton, Holt Renfrew’s new Calgary flagship store is redefining luxury shopping in the city.
Opened in October, the new 151,000 square foot store is a showcase of precise details and sumptuous materials: fine wood veneers, leathers, marbles, lacquers and glass. A perfect setting for the many high end designer labels the store carries.
Designed by renown New York firm Janson Goldstein, a dramatic 40’ tall façade of marble, glass and steel marks the grand entrance to Holt Renfrew at The Core shopping centre downtown.
Holt Renfrew is a part of the massive multi-million dollar redevelopment of The Core (Calgary Eaton Centre-TD Square). The store anchors the mall which sits in the heart of the city’s commercial core between 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue S.W. (Stephen Avenue) and between 2nd Street and 4th Street S.W.
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The new $45 million store, re-located to the space previously occupied by Sears, more than triples its previous size spread over three floors.
“It’s a major square footage increase from their existing store,” says Janson. “And it’s in a much larger building and the complicated thing was each floor plate was a different shape with different areas overlapping.”
The atrium is a key design element and not just for the architecture but also wayfinding, says Janson, explaining the atrium acts as the “critical vertical connection” for the overlapping spaces and multiple mall entry ways.
“Just like we did in Vancouver because we had so many entry points, we had to make a simple intuitive path through the store to make the shopping experience easy and enjoyable,” he says.
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After the success of Holt Renfrew’s new Vancouver store which opened in 2007, Janson Goldstein was tapped to design a new Calgary location in a similar aesthetic.
Signature materials ranging from exotic woods and stones to metal and glass distinguish each department. Unique furnishings, area rugs and carpets have also been carefully selected to complement the various spaces.
For example, on the second level the women’s clothing features a floor of Giada Greek marble, inlaid with different woods and stones for each of the various types of clothing departments (designer or contemporary). On the +30 level is Holt’s men’s shoes, furnishings and clothing areas. The space features a floor of Greek Nestos marble and walls of richly stained zebra wood.
“We used two stones both from Greece. One is Nestos that is warm grey and white veined marble and the other is called Giada that is a cooler grey and white. Those are the two principal base materials that are used throughout the store,” says Janson.
The men’s floor is housed within a light filled double height space topped by a skylight.
“The top floor men area has a very dramatic sculptural façade inside the mall itself. The entire space is covered with a skylight,” describes Janson. “Like in Vancouver, daylight was very important to us. The new skylight that’s being put on the mall provides daylight into the Holt Renfrew store all the way down to the first level.”
The mall will feature the world's largest point-supported structural glass skylight (90 foot wide by 750 foot long) spanning three city blocks from Holt Renfrew to a Harry Rosen anchor store.
Daylight is filtered through the internal atrium, a sculpted angular space connecting all three levels, where escalators carry customers between floors.
Light also plays an important role on the exterior of the building.
“Another challenge was creating an identity on the outside of the store,” says Janson. “We created what we call two sculptural lanterns at the two principal corners which announce the entry ways.”
The street level of the store features two main entrances, one on the Seventh Avenue side and one on the Eight Avenue side of 4th Street SW. Each entry is marked by a soaring sculputural “lantern” which rises 70’ to the top of the building. The lanterns are composed of hundreds of sculpted steel panels and are internally illuminated.
According to Janson, the light is designed to filter through the panels, creating a soft glow and an iconic architectural statement.
Metal halide lighting is used for the interior and exterior “which is the most output for the least amount of energy,” he adds.
To make the lanterns a reality was the responsibility of general contractor EllisDon.
EllisDon, who is the general for the mall redevelopment, performed the work for Holt’s exterior fit out of the building and some internal structural work for new elevators and escalators.
Project manager Cara Locchead cites the lantern corners were definitely the most complex part of their $6.5 million contract.
“It’s a very unique installation. It’s the first I’ve ever seen of it,” she says. “And the structural steel that had to go in in order to actually attach all the paneling and lighting was something else [em dash] - very detailed work. Everything had to be within 5 millimetres.”
Of course, working in downtown Calgary posed the largest challenge with lack of lay down space and coordination of deliveries. EllisDon started work on the core and shell last July with manpower peaking at around 30.
The arcade that surrounds the building on the street level was also completely redesigned with new lighting, materials and new storefront glazing. The open air galleria (connecting the two main entrances and a third entrance located at the Transit Station) features a Nestos Greek marble wall and 10’ tall display windows with views directly into the store.
“What we wanted to do was revitalize this much older building and give it a prominence,” says Anita Leonoff, IBI Group project architect. “We wanted to create a much brighter and more vibrant ground floor with lighter and newer materials. We wanted to open it up and create street presence to the store.”
Adds Janson, “We’re very pleased with the storefront designs. It’s like a series of floating stone plains with display windows inserted into them.”
The result is a stunning innovative design that reflects Holt Renfrew’s international luxury brand identity.
“It’s going to be a real dynamic store and it’s going to really help revitalize downtown Calgary,” says Leonoff. |
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