© Ivo Tavares Studio
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The Portugal Vineyards wine concept store is the first physical store for the online wine specialist company. Located adjacent to the company’s headquarters, facing the street and occupying 90m2, the store consists of an open-plan devoid of partitions.
The traditional references to dark cellars and wood materials had to be completely disregarded. Out of this brief we immediately interpreted the need for light and an open plan. Also, while designing a retail space, where emotions tend to be rationalised and as a designer, we work to find solutions beyond the existing condition. The creative challenge of this project was to find that a circle plan could be the best answer for a squared existing space. Facing a squared plan, a cornered entrance and a secondary access we found our answer in the use of geometry. The displays are carved out of the walls in reference to the vineyard terraces in a circular shape that fills the customer field of view sensitively with indirect lighting and the sharp contrast between the product and the space.
The space inside is blindingly white, minimal and circular.
The initial challenges behind the space were to find the answers through geometry, to allow enough footfall to have the 600 references the clients intended to display, the design should allow the space to be used as a venue for supplier presentations and to have an area for wine tasting. These requirements were answered through the definition of a radius that allowed the inner circle to gather about 50 people; three levels of terraces where all the bottles restand a loop circulation that would be broken by the access points.
A white canvas for the Portuguese wine to shine and be displayed. The interior is a blindingly white and minimal space with circular circulation. The shelves are carved out of the walls in reference to the wine terraces on a 360 degree immersive retail experience with no counter. A retail space where staff are on the client side, suggesting, promoting and serving.
The shelves are carved out of the walls in reference to the vineyard terraces in a circular shape that fills the customer´s field of view sensitively with indirect lighting and the sharp contrast between the product and the space. This luminance creates the perfect background for the experience of observing the diversity the wine represents and a chance to take design back to its core in a chance to start something new. In this project we planned to celebrate the wine bottle, its shape and the brightness of its colored glass without lies – an interior using a simple form and the purest and neutral color.
One of the unique conditions of this retail space is the open space where staff shares the same floor all the time with the client, suggesting, promoting and serving. A space with very linear, clear and open circulation where the staff is placed in the center stage. From the moment clients enter they are accompanied side-by-side, with no counters, shelves or walls dividing or separating them from the staff members.
The visitor´s experience begins with the perception of the curved walls and the circular path that surrounds one soon after entering the interior. The approach was to focus on creating a space that could emerge from the access points and develop a feel of inner space defined by the three wine terraces that exhibitone of most extended collections of Portuguese wine.
The curving walls are made of a gypsum board supported by a metal frame and the shelves are engineered wood supported in the same structure. The color is an element of the wine tasting process. After taking the decision to have a bright space we found that the RAL 9003 is the recommended color for a background when observing the aging wine in thewine tasting events.
The wine terraces displays provide our client the flexibility to organize the theme display and adjust these groups to suit market trends and seasons; to the visitor allows a 360º view of the store and a quick perception of the wine range. Without affecting these premises, an online counter space has been added, allowing a virtual tour of the warehouse, where the most and least known Portuguese wines are found, and a wine-tasting zone where the traditional wood barrels are integrated in the concept has bar tables to complete the experience of the visit to this store.
GALLERY: