DAMIR DOMA
PARIS | FRANCE | 2012
Located within a discreet courtyard at 54 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris, the Damir Doma flagship store was conceived as a spatial interpretation of the designer’s clothing: layered, tactile, and quietly powerful.
The project sought to create an environment that reflects the raw elegance and restrained sensuality characteristic of Doma’s work, translating the language of fashion into architecture through materiality, atmosphere, and movement.
The interior is organised around the idea of levels and layers. A sculptural staircase, formed from stacked travertine stone slabs, acts as the spatial anchor of the boutique, connecting the store’s multiple floors while expressing a sense of geological weight and permanence. The edges of the stone are left deliberately rough, revealing the natural character of the material and reinforcing the dialogue between refinement and rawness that underpins the project. Throughout the space, existing plasterwork and patching have been retained where possible, revealing layers of the interior’s history and quietly recording the passage of time.
Throughout the store, materials are presented in an honest and almost elemental state. Existing concrete walls were retained and allowed to weather naturally, forming a textured backdrop to the garments. Herringbone parquet floors introduce warmth and familiarity, while black steel plates provide a darker, more industrial counterpoint. Overhead, a hand-finished mirrored ceiling by Helen Macfarlane from Outline Mirrors in verdigris tones captures and diffuses light, subtly amplifying the space and creating an atmospheric glow across the interior.
Brass lighting fixtures and minimal display elements were carefully integrated to maintain a restrained visual language, allowing the material palette to remain the dominant architectural expression. Garments are presented across a series of platforms and rooms that reveal themselves gradually as visitors move deeper into the store.
Rather than creating a conventional retail environment, the intention was to produce a sequence of intimate rooms that feel closer to an apartment than a shop. The scale, lighting and material palette encourage visitors to move slowly through the space, discovering garments and objects across different levels.
The result is an architecture of contrasts; raw and refined, monumental yet intimate, providing a quiet but powerful setting that allows Damir Doma’s collections to unfold.
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RETAIL
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COMPLETED 2012
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PARIS | FRANCE
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ARCHITECT OF RECORD | CUT ARCHITECTURES
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DAVID FOESSEL and ADRIEN DIRAND