UPI shop in Kyoto

This UPI store was designed around two ideas: connecting with nature and increasing online retail, which questions the future of physical points of sale

Javier Villar Ruiz and Tomoki Yamasaki of Happenstance Collective designed this space where the boundaries between interior and exterior blur, bringing in nature in the form of growing plants and a dry stream and juxtaposing them with simple panels on which the brand’s outdoor-gear items are displayed. The dichotomy between the two atmospheres is made through a diagonal line that ignores the geometry of the preexisting structure.

The contrast between real nature and the bare concrete of the actual selling spaces is the very essence of the shop. The construction is kept simple and honest, without hiding the humility of the thin tool panels that serve as display boards, nor its subrame when necessary. This down-to-basics essentiality of the building brings to mind the makeshift funcionality of camping structures.