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 façade—it 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.