dpa lighting consultants were very pleased to continue their working relationship with Studio Four IV and Harvey Nichols, following previous successful collaborations with this fashion and lifestyle department store in other UK and international locations.

Studio Four IV have a very strong creative vision, and dpa work closely with them to develop lighting solutions which have a high level of detailing and co-ordination. In addition to the fundamental layers of high quality ambient and display illumination, there is also much development on special ceiling features and integrated display furniture lighting.

The store is located over two floors in an existing shopping mall in Kuwait City. Much work was carried out to reshape the floor plan and link the two floors with new escalators. A new impressive façade treatment was developed which combined integrated and concealed architectural lighting with video screen technology to provide flexibility of store presentation and visual merchandising opportunities.

For the ceiling level ambient and display lighting, the conceptual direction was to avoid a typical dense grid of lights. Instead, the design introduced a flexible lighting track and spotlight solution that was arranged to create the impression of a more organic, seemingly random ceiling layout. These fittings were also partially concealed in certain sightlines by custom designed fins that protrude down from the ceiling, helping to maintain a clean and decorative finish. This approach ensured that not all light fixtures were visible simultaneously. In addition, supplementary recessed adjustable downlights were positioned in small groups at key points to provide focused support for the merchandise displays below.

In combination with the ceiling lighting treatments, there was also an emphasis on the low-level integrated furniture display lighting to ensure that the merchandise received more precise and effective local illumination.  Many lighting details were carefully developed and prototyped to optimise this layered lighting solution.

Studio Four IV excel at developing a fully three-dimensional retail design which encompasses a variety of carefully selected luxury materials and finishes, and visually interesting and innovative retail display furniture and features, all of which give dpa wonderful opportunities to bring the design to life through light.

Client: Alshaya Group
Interior Designer: Studio Four IV
Louvered architectural surfaces: Giles Miller Studio
Photography: Courtesy of Studio Four IV