A superstructure made of 3,651 pieces of plywood winds its way around Herman Miller’s first shop-in-shop in the world.

It’s conceived by Singaporean design studio P.A.C, who drew inspiration from the company’s core products, work chairs, and the way they are designed based on Ergonomic research to produce surfaces that are moulded comfortably to the human body.

Just like how the Herman Miller work chairs adapt to our posture and movements, the plywood skin adapts to the existing structures and customer movement patterns, while its continuous surfaces, which form the facade, walls, ceiling and entrances help direct customers through the store.

The complex, porous structure is made up of simple 3-legged wooden component panels designed with interlocking lap-joints. The panels are then individually pieced together to form a rigid, woven double-layered envelope that modulates light and views.

And because the component-based design process required a greater continuity and simultaneous planning across all stages of the project, the entire process – from design to shaping to fabrication and assembly on site – was controlled parametrically for increased accuracy and precision.

The P.A.C design team were directly involved in the laborious build and had this to say about the experience: “It was good to see and be hands on with the design process from concept to construction. We felt that we had better control of the results by personally building it and had a better understanding of the material; learning from the discrepancies between the design process and planning as well as on-site adjustments.”

See the superstructure being built!

On the displays

There are 3 main feature zones within the 2,000sqft shop-in-shop, including the Heritage/Classics zone, the Ergonomics zone and the Soho zone.

Don’t forget to check out the original vintage Eames chairs from the 1950s. Also arriving soon at the shop-in-shop are products from Geiger, a Herman Miller company, and Mattiazzi, which is distributed by Herman Miller.

Beyond furniture, the plan is for the space to engage visitors via collaborative projects with local and foreign artists and designers.

Herman Miller
hermanmiller.com

XTRA
xtra.com.sg