Kubík Department Store

The corner of the crossing, with two entrances into the store on different levels, is a new public space of the town. The terrain here climbs the height of a storey along the façade. In the place where the slope becomes too steep, we have circumscribed it with a long bench. The bench is put on the sloping ground and it defines the walk between the two entrances on a comfortable slope. The ground outside the entrances is paved with stone. Several trees poke out of the pavement.

We agree with the preliminary study of the property use. The orientation of the commercial spaces into the inner passage allows us to design façades with a minimum of larger openings. As opposed to large shopping malls, in this scale we create a pleasant small-town department store. We have adjusted the shape of the passageway in order to streamline one's passage through the building. The stairs and escalators are in one place in the mid-point of the passageway. Behind the stairs, the passageway turs in a right angle and a skylight through the upper floor is designed here.

We propose to coat the façade of the building with basalt paving slabs. It is an affordable and indestructible material. The tiles are twenty centimetre large hexagons of irregular, metallic black colour. A standard industrial product. The building will therefore seem as a hefty black monolith with subtle scales. The entrances are recessed into the volume and their sides are designed as emissive in contrast with the black façade. The wood of the window frames and suspended ceilings becomes a complementary material to the dark basalt tiles.

The last layer of expression are the advertising spaces. We detach these from the volume of the store. We place two types of steel frameworks on the roof. Tall banners topped with a circular panel and conventional panels divided for each of the shops. In this manner of a somewhat constructivist extension, the colourful advertisement does no harm.

Both the façade and the surrounding surfaces are made of tough, low-maintenance materials. There are no redundant spaces for litter to accumulate. Hence there is a firm foundation for other softer layers of benches, trees and ads.

Kubík Department Store

Location: Moravská Třebová, CZ

Collaboration: Marek Nedelka

Investor: Kubík a.s.

The corner of the crossing, with two entrances into the store on different levels, is a new public space of the town. The terrain here climbs the height of a storey along the façade. In the place where the slope becomes too steep, we have circumscribed it with a long bench. The bench is put on the sloping ground and it defines the walk between the two entrances on a comfortable slope. The ground outside the entrances is paved with stone. Several trees poke out of the pavement.

We agree with the preliminary study of the property use. The orientation of the commercial spaces into the inner passage allows us to design façades with a minimum of larger openings. As opposed to large shopping malls, in this scale we create a pleasant small-town department store. We have adjusted the shape of the passageway in order to streamline one's passage through the building. The stairs and escalators are in one place in the mid-point of the passageway. Behind the stairs, the passageway turs in a right angle and a skylight through the upper floor is designed here.

We propose to coat the façade of the building with basalt paving slabs. It is an affordable and indestructible material. The tiles are twenty centimetre large hexagons of irregular, metallic black colour. A standard industrial product. The building will therefore seem as a hefty black monolith with subtle scales. The entrances are recessed into the volume and their sides are designed as emissive in contrast with the black façade. The wood of the window frames and suspended ceilings becomes a complementary material to the dark basalt tiles.

The last layer of expression are the advertising spaces. We detach these from the volume of the store. We place two types of steel frameworks on the roof. Tall banners topped with a circular panel and conventional panels divided for each of the shops. In this manner of a somewhat constructivist extension, the colourful advertisement does no harm.

Both the façade and the surrounding surfaces are made of tough, low-maintenance materials. There are no redundant spaces for litter to accumulate. Hence there is a firm foundation for other softer layers of benches, trees and ads.