Old Bond Street Valentino store by David Chipperfield Architects

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Santi Caleca

The flagship Valentino store on Old Bond Street, London, evolves a design concept developed for the Italian fashion house by the Milan office of David Chipperfield Architects (AT256). This is Valentino’s second London store, and comprises four retail levels, a storage basement and a top floor dedicated to offices, tailoring and further storage.

The project included the construction of a new five-storey facade for the existing building, composed of an outer layer made of natural Portland stone and an inner layer of ‘artificial’ terrazzo. The deep facade reads as a grid of aedicular niches, in which manequins appear like classical statues.

The proportions of the openings respond to the geometry of neighbouring buildings. A loggia at the top of the building features round Portland stone columns, and is “reminiscent of the attic typology prevalent in the area”, says the architect. “It can be read as a contemporary interpretation of traditional Old Bond Street elevations”.

The theme of Venetian terrazzo extends to the interior, where it lines both floors and walls, which are additionally detailed with Portland stone, leather and wood. On the ground floor, the palette is enhanced by  white-veined Carrara marble columns and freestanding marble blocks. A warmer note is added by black leather-topped wooden benches and oak vitrines in which products are displayed. Oak also lines the stairwell, the lift tower, and the entrance vestibule, where it is intended to emphasise the threshold between the street and the shop. Along the double-layered walls, polished brass pendant brackets carry wooden shelves.

The material language, progressively pared back since Chipperfield’s first work for Valentino in 2008, manages to address two concerns simultaneously: the ‘dolce vita’ Roman glamour associated with the brand is given a contemporary expression, while the robustness of the construction lends a sense of durability that is a deliberate counterpoint to the spectacle of much contemporary development in London.

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