The project consists of the interior transformation of a small commercial unit into a bespoke clothing-shop and is the sequel to the first Love-Story shop in East-Fremantle designed by MORQ. The new high-end women’s clothing store needed to convey the identity of its place – Cottesloe and the beach life – as well as a sense of “resort travelling lifestyle” required by the main overseas brands.

Due to the rather poor state of the pre-existing space, the proposal generates an overarching interior transformation as opposed to a more traditional refurbishment. In response to the brief the project instils a limitless space evoking tones and the light of the Indian Ocean landscape. The proposal seeks to transform a 5m by 20m dim dead-end unit in a light-filled evanescent atmosphere with the limitlessness and openness of the horizon. Firstly, a pure rectangular envelope was created, moving change-rooms and storage out of the main space. Then the light condition was dramatically altered through a series of scattered skylights and by the creation a rear patio – a new source of intense sunlight dividing the shop floor from the back storage. The ceiling structure was designed of simple polycarbonate fins to further engage with the sunlight and become a glimmering cloud. As a result the inner space feels the daily changes of sunlight and the passing of the seasons: glimmering and contrasted in a clear day, subtle and diffuse when overcast. The decking floor accentuates the depth of space as well as referencing the yachting and resort atmosphere. The floor and the ceiling work as two juxtaposed planes entering with each other into a dialogue of rhythms, light, and depth. To dissimulate their presence, the walls are finished with a subtle iridescent plaster that carries the light, generates subtle reflections and provides an ever-changing neutral background to the clothes on display. New floor, walls and ceiling, were detailed to include a fully insulated new cavity separating the new interior space from the old existing envelope. This simple yet fundamental move substantially improved both thermal and acoustic performance of the renovated inner space.