Niketown, Oxford Circus, London is the Nike UK flagship store.

The basic theme of the interior design concept was to have dark surfaces and a subdued ambient effect. The lighting concept developed to complement this approach was to create a contemporary stage feel against which to display the product with dramatic effect, being in total contrast with traditional bright, flatly lit sports stores.

The ‘Nike ID’ glass cube is the centrepiece of the store, within which the customer can design a personalised sports shoe. The emphasis is on drama with a dramatic perimeter wash of light on the full height shoe display and spotlighting of the central display. The interior surfaces are dark and the ambience is low.

For the Football, Running and Flexible Display areas, again the emphasis was on low ambience and strong accent lighting, providing good perimeter illumination up to ceiling level to cover all wall displays, with controlled spotlighting to the central product displays. Backlit fabric ceiling panels provide an additional layer of lit effect giving visual emphasis to the corresponding product displays.

The lighting equipment was optically well controlled, flexible and energy efficient, whilst providing excellent colour rendering properties to best reveal the products on display. The backlit fabric ceilings were fully dimmable to allow the balance of the lit effect against the ambient and display lighting.

Client: Nike Retail
Project Manager: FOM
Architect: HMKM
MEP Services Engineer: EEP
Shop Fitter: Umdasch