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Opened last week, the two-storey Bally store in Tokyo is the second flagship to feature the new store concept developed by David Chipperfield Architects Milan. It is located at the intersection of Chuo-Dori Street and Sotobori-Dori Avenue in Ginza, Tokyo’s renowned shopping district.

Inspired by research into Bally’s Swiss modernist heritage and the clean, innovative aesthetic of its earliest stores, the new store concept was first applied to the London flagship store on New Bond Street. The new Tokyo store demonstrates an evolution of the concept in response to a new setting.

A distinctive feature of the Tokyo store is the two-storey façade composed of a series of vertical brass elements. These elements start from a single unified beam that splits into three slender beams and branches out upward, creating a framework reminiscent of an avenue of trees – a reference to a traditional Japanese motif. In plan, the store spaces are arranged around a star-shaped timber wall so that they open out towards the glass façade like window displays. In addition to its screening function, the timber grid walling serves as a flexible display system onto which a variety of lighting and shelving elements can be attached.

Image ©Eugenio Matteazzi