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Toys "R"
Us wanted an international flagship store that would convey to their customers
what their brand means today, and how the store supports the company's
key strategies and serve as "the toy center of the universe."
They wanted to use state-of-the-art technologies to convey brand messages,
promote product, and provide advertising opportunities both inside and
outside the store for the company and vendor partners. Enter the design
team: architect Gensler, a retail designer, and consultants. "Gensler
worked with the client to come up with an ingenious solution for the façadeit
is an event, and they did a very effective job of it," the jury commented.
The architectural
solution centers on a high-tech signage system blanketing the entire building
facade. Just inside translucent windows, 165 individual scrolling panels
display up to eight different images and incorporate a transparent panel
to allow passersby a view to the interior. Computerized controls reveal
individual panels in a precise sequence while exterior lighting renders
the facade the brightest and clearest storefront in the area. Equally
dramatic, its richly colored interior employs highest quality theatrical
lighting and audiovisual systems, not to mention a 60-foot-tall Ferris
wheel in a three-story atrium.
Since
its opening in mid-November 2001, more than 5,000,000 visitors have come
to the flagship, and its unique exterior branding/advertising system has
generated several million dollars in revenue to date. Additionally, a
top-10 Dow Jones Industrial company founder and CEO introduced their newest
electronic game product at the store, and more than 20 other major toy
launches were slated for the second half of 2002. "It's not even
about the products, it's about the experience of going there," the
jury concluded.
Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects.
All rights reserved.
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Photo Credit: Paul Warchol
The 2002 BW/AR jury:
Lawrence L. Edge, President
World Development Federation
Steven M. Goldberg, FAIA, Partner
Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, LLP
Dr. Michael Hammer, President
Hammer and Company, Inc.
Jon Adams Jerde, FAIA, Chair, Founder
The Jerde Partnership, Inc.
Toshiko Mori, Chair, Department of Architecture
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Timothy J. O'Brien, Vice President, Real Estate
Ford Motor Company
Chee Pearlman, Design Consultant
Columnist for the New York Times
Cathy J. Simon, FAIA, Principal
Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris
David A. Thurm, Vice President, Real Estate Development
The New York Times Company
Robert W. Vanech, Venture Partner
AMP5, LLC.
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