Aesop West London earthy tones

Located is a West London shopping centre architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike Created a refuge style Aesop store to act a retreat from the bustling aisles of Westfield shopping center.
Precast stone blocks coloured with red sandstone from Glamis Castle in Scotland form the walls of the skincare store using genuine masonry construction rather than applied finishes or surfaces. Al-Jawad Pike chose to build the walls of the store from precast stone blocks, which enclose the space and create a feeling akin to a walled garden. The curved form of the walls is also meant to reference the undulating brickwork of Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste.
The design was inspired by the ‘crinkle crankle’ wall of the English countryside as well as the structures of Eladio Dieste, which both use an undulating waveform to give rigidity to a single skin of masonry. Earthy tones have been applied throughout the store. Powder from the same red sandstone that was used to make the 17th-century Glamis Castle in Scotland has been used to colour the precast stone blocks.
The resulting red blockwork walls, which were built using two standard shapes of precast blocks, have been paired with red concrete-tile flooring and a clay plaster ceiling.
The hand-washing sinks which are a big part of the customers’ interaction with the product and the sales people are also given centre stage – being made out of honey-coloured resin they look a bit like big bars of sculpted soap.