A bookstore in Sao Paulo can lay claim to having the best retail interior in the world — at least for the moment.
The judges who presided over this year’s Inside Awards at the World Festival of Interiors have awarded the Cultura Bookstore “Best Retail Interior of 2014” honours at this annual international celebration of interior design love, held this year in Singapore.
Designed by studio mk27, the Cultura Bookstore is a truly stunning space, a sprawling and spare take on the modern bookshop that tips its designer cap to the evolving applications of this special category of retailer, including socializing, hosting and, yes, even in-store reading.
Indeed, the shop was designed specifically as “a bookstore with a meeting place,” such that its customers might linger guiltlessly, even after completing their shopping.
At 4,300 square metres, the store is truly massive. Its 7.7-metre-wide glass and aluminum entranceway is entirely recessed, leaving the passage invitingly open. The first floor houses electronics and audiovisuals, along with an adjoining garden café.
The second floor, dubbed the “geek space,” is where comic books and toys live. But it is the vast spread of retail real estate that is Cultura’s top floor that is its most winning feature. With such architectural standouts as 21-metre-wide bleachers and an extensive arrangement of 11 tables ringed by comfy club chairs, the bookstore positively calls out to shoppers to stay a while.
So massive is this mezzanine area — designed with glass handrails and punctuated with clean lines of light to minimize any visual interference that could break up its expanse —small concerts and lectures can be hosted here. Finally, the open space is encircled by the store’s star players: namely, the books, arranged on handsome stands made of the same wood that overlays the floor.
Taken together, the unique design of this Brazilian retailer is equal parts coziness and airiness, theatre and commerce, philosophy and flow.
Joyce Wang Studio’s MOTT32 bar and restaurant in Hong Kong won INSIDE World Festival of Interiors’ best interior space of 2014 prize.
