Dublin-based department store Brown Thomas has opened Brown Thomas Living, a 21,000 sq ft (1,950 sq m) area on its third floor designed by Irish architectural practice Douglas Wallace.
The department has four separate areas: dining, bed and bath, kitchen essentials and decorative living.
Work started on the project in the middle of last year. Douglas Wallace director Alan Douglas said the initial plan was to extend the store footprint, but 'eventually they had to accept that they would have to work within the envelope they were in'.
This has meant consolidating the homewares offer, which was divided across two floors, and deciding not to sell furniture. 'In a relatively confined space in the middle of the city, this was basically a non-runner,' said Douglas.
'The challenge was to halve the space with the same revenue. Obviously, being realistic, you probably don't get quite the same revenues from one floor as you do from two. However, we aimed to get as close as possible,' he added.
Douglas said that following initial work carried out by 20/20, which formed part of the brief for Douglas Wallace, 'we eventually came down to this idea of Living'.
Design details include a composite resin-impregnated eucalyptus wood floor, with fixturing in square-section stainless steel and a creamy-white lacquer finish on the joinery.
Walls and ceilings are white, with backlit acrylic panels providing perimeter interest. Douglas said: 'We kept it incredibly neutral to allow the product to work on its own.'
Austrian shopfitter Umdasch worked on the fit-out.
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