Brooklyn-based Almost Studio designs 1,500 sf boutique for fashion designer Sandy Liang

Brooklyn-based architectural firm Almost Studio has designed the 1,500-square-foot flagship boutique for the popular emerging fashion designer Sandy Liang. It is due to open in December of this year.

The space sits on the ground level of a five-story brick building built in 1900 and was previously occupied by a laundromat. Almost Studio patched and sealed the original concrete floor, replaced the ceiling for new HVAC, and framed the glass storefront with stainless steel, introducing a fresh feel to the long linear retail space.

Almost Studio co-founder Anthony Gagliardi explained, in a statement, the team's primary design challenge was to "generate a spatial logic that allowed the store to feel cohesive, while also inserting an enfilade of individualized areas within the irregular and narrow space."

Upon entry, visitors are greeted by the boutique's shopping area, which stretches roughly 60-feet in length. Next comes the point of sale, then dressing rooms and bathrooms, and finally the kitchen and office space.

Custom clothing rods, made from ray-cold-rolled steel, slither through the boutique, beginning at the storefront and reaching back to the point of sale and dressing rooms. As the rods extend toward the rear of the space, they meet a group of metal mesh curtains that suspend from the ceiling, dividing the shopping area into three rooms: display system, point of sale, and dressing rooms.

Of the flagship design, fashion designer and client Sandy Liang said in a statement: "I like to think of the store as a physical extension of my general approach to clothes—I don't think anything needs to be ultra-serious, I appreciate a bit of humor and playfulness in everything. And I want to pay homage to where I came from, and who my community is. The community is such a large part of myself, my family's history, and how I think about design—so, in a way, the store will be the spatial representation of the brand. I'm so excited to share that, because it will be the first time customers can see who we are, outside of what we post on social media and our collections."