PUMA Chicago
Chicago
Kanner Architects
Technology helps Puma put its best foot forward
Puma’s flagship Chicago store occupies a prominent corner along Rush Street, one of downtown Chicago’s main retail thoroughfares. In keeping with its high profile location, the specialty shop—located in a former pharmacy—attracts visitors with an immersive, technology-rich experience. Kanner Architects designed its new, bold elevations to symbolize the brand’s identity: at-home on gritty urban streets or international fashion runways.
The architect enlarged and restructured the terra-cotta brick facade to increase transparency of the loft-like experience inside. Patrons enter into a double-height foyer that allows them to take in the whole store, including its second level. The starkness of concrete floors and white walls form a minimalist backdrop, against which Kanner placed white-washed ash fixtures highlighted with splashes of PUMA’s signature red. They intended the L-shaped wall and ceiling panels to refer abstractly to the brand’s leaping cat logo and draw customers through the store.
During operating hours, a two-dimensional holographic projection of the PUMA mascot, a wild cat named Dylan, prowls along the store’s walls above the merchandise displays. When the store is closed, a slumbering Dylan is rear-projected onto the glass storefront—his stomach rising and falling—guarding the space and signaling that operations are finished for the day. Cameras at shoe level project images of footwear onto flat screen monitors at eye level. Exposed steel accents, and an all-glass stair connecting the two levels, round out a highly stylized environment.
Formal name of project:
PUMA Chicago
Location:
Chicago
Gross square footage:
8,280 sq. ft.
Owner:
PUMA International
Architect:
Kanner Architects
1558 10th St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310-451-5400 tel.
310-451-5440 fax
www.kannerarch.com
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