Armani Fifth Avenue

After Hong Kong Chater House and Tokyo Ginza Tower, Fifth Avenue completes the trilogy of the Armani Stores designed by Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas for the famous designer.
Situated in the centre of New York, in one of the world’s well known streets, the project takes up the first three floors of the two buildings located between 5th Avenue and 56th Street.
Besides the basement, the showroom develops on four different levels and it is conceived as a single space, without clear distinctions, a space in harmony connected with the power generated by the vortex that is the staircase.
The heart of the building is, in fact, epitomized by the staircase. Structure in rolled calendar steel (made in Italy) and cladded in a plastic layer that highlights its exceptional sculptural presence. It is an entity that is almost impossible to convey in terms of any normal geometric shape that originates from a vortex with great dynamism, surrounded by the different levels that accommodate the Armani world. The movement of the ribbons that constitutes the staircase, skimming each floor, disenchants the possibility to recognize the geometry.
The general layout of every floor develops according to the different flexures of the ribbons, creating a space controlled by the vortex. There is a confliction between the shine of the walls and of the furnishings and the noir of the marble and of the ceiling. Therefore emphasizing the areas that are there for interaction.
There is also a confliction between the apparent simplicity of the internal space and the cafe/restaurant giving an advanced notice of the elevator’s entrance. The refolded bronze that covers them, acquires and reflects the colours and the shades giving a glimpse of the new atmosphere. From the restaurant, filtered by an amber veil, there is a splendid view of 5th Avenue and the end of Central Park.
The colours and the materials utilized are the same as the rest of the showroom, but the suggestions are new and different. The space becomes recreational, a line of light on the floor that leads to the entrance of the restaurant, underlining the sensuality of the bends of the wall. A virtual curtain activates the passage and, just like a theatre, ...the show begins!