Louis Vuitton Opens in Ginza
John Hill
26. March 2021
Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.
On March 20, Louis Vuitton opened its transformed Ginza Naminki store in Tokyo, where Jun Aoki has wrapped the building in wavy dichroic glass and Peter Marino has designed the interiors.
The striking building with its shiny, viscous facade sits in the same location as the fashion brand's 2004 store also designed by Aoki. The alabaster and concrete box of that earlier design has given way to a taller building enclosed in ripples that refract the surroundings and reflect the ambient light differently depending on the time of day and one's position. Aoki was inspired by Claude Monet's painting of La Grenouillère, a resort on the Seine near Paris; the reflections in the water appear to jump off the canvas onto the store's facade.
Japan-Architects got an early peek at the store, snapping these photos and posting them to their Magazine. Scroll through to get a closer look at the facade and a peek inside the store.
The new store is seven stories tall, though it is hard to grasp that from its opaque wrapper. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
Louis Vuitton has occupied this corner site since 1981; the latest rebuilding took three years. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
The facade is made from dichroic glass, whose surface separates light into different wavelengths, giving the reflections a different color than their actual color. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
Fittingly, given the aqueous nature of the facade, jellyfish sculptures are suspended behind clear glass in the double-height entrance. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
A special pop-up space extends the underwater theme. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
The main element in Peter Marino's interiors is a central wooden stair that climbs through the building inside walls inspired by Kimiko Fujimura's Wave Blue Line, a painting from 1977. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
The spaces upstairs continue the theme of curves in soft colors. Note the daylight entering through elliptical apertures of clear glass in the facade. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
Those openings are most pronounced a the top of the building, which will eventually be home to Le Café V and Le Chocolat V. (Photo: Neoplus Sixten Inc.)
