HI-MACS® Concrete creates a cool, urban look in GRID store  

When it comes to kitting out commercial spaces, HI-MACS® is the ultimate material for walls, surfaces and cladding. It’s no wonder then that the GRID chain of sportswear stores in Romania chose HI-MACS® for its new, unique retail concept, which combines value for money with trend-setting lifestyle and sports brands such as Nike, Puma, Adidas and Reebok. This multibrand concept fabricated by Atvangarde Surfaces, has been developed by The Various Brands Network, who commissioned PickTwo architect and design studio to devise the perfect environment for their new concept store.

The brief was to create a contemporary, minimalist, semi-industrial design; a completely off-the-wall concept that goes against the traditional retail layout for sporting goods. ‘GRID is a fashion shop concept that has its origins in the contemporary world,’ explains Sebastian Mindroiu, project co-ordinator, ‘a physics-digital world in which much of life and our interactions are happening with the help of technology. The main idea started from the 0 and 1 binary matrix, the matrix that became the physical GRID of the products we present. Thus we outlined the furniture based on a square that reminds us of the digital GRID.’

The architect chose HI-MACS® for the store’s reception and cash desk due to its premium quality finish and ability to be moulded into a minimal design. The one-piece seamless finish has no visible joins, is resistant to heavy traffic, is low maintenance and easy to clean. ‘The only material that meets all our requirements is HI-MACS® natural acrylic stone,’ reveals Sebastian. ‘The main body of the reception is the light-coloured Pebble Pearl HI-MACS®, over which was placed the new HI-MACS® Chic Concrete from the Concrete collection. We also used HI-MACS® in Lucent for the GRID logo on the front of the cash desk.’

The store epitomises a strong, spacious layout with metal cubes that are bound together to create the ‘binary matrix’ that PickTwo envisaged. Made from electrostatically coated steel, each shelf features white LED lighting strips to highlight the products on display. Comfy sofas at the rear encourage customers to take a seat and try on the trainers and footwear.