The Pink World Made of Concrete

The Ghanaian-born British architect David Adjaye designed a peculiar pink concrete space for his first project in California, the refurbishment of the Beverly Center, which lasted for many years and cost $500 million.

The Webster store is located on the corner of the street and covers an area of ​​1,022 square meters. The curved façade is covered with pink concrete, giving a feeling of “hardness and softness”, which is in contrast to and complementary to the primitivism-style architecture.

The front of the Webster store is divided into two parts, one of which is projected outwards, creating a sheltered entrance.

The lower part of the cantilevered concrete wall, the concrete bends around the building and at the same time acts as a bench on the side of the street. The interior of the store is covered with the same dark pink concrete, making it look like a single, monolithic block carved from it.

Inside the cantilevered walls, Adjaye designed a series of niches with lights to display exquisite artworks.

The display shelf and pedestal seem to be suspended in the air, with curved walls surrounding the dressing room. Exquisite bronze display stands, mirrors, terrazzo floors, and ancient floral wallpaper all contrast with the rough concrete.

The Beverly Center flagship store is the seventh branch of a multi-brand design fashion boutique, which was founded in 2009 by Laure Heriard Dubreuil in Miami. However, Adjaye did not treat the project as a pure retail space, but as an experimental destination for materials and colors, as well as a sculptural landscape for placing objects.