Several months ago Marui opened up another department store in Shinjuku san chome, along with at least three other existing ones and retail competition that includes Isetan’s flagship across the street. It is interesting that one of its defining design themes is green space. If you arrive by Tokyo Metro, you can see strips of living plant walls in the underground passageway.
At the street level, Marui created large gardens more than a meter wide along the sidewalk with trees, bushes and grasses. This provides an unexpected burst of plant life in an area otherwise paved and overflowing with signage and people.
Marui even uses low light plants in indoor merchandising. It feels like a coherent and unique brand identity extending from outside to inside the retail space. Unfortunately some of the indoor “plants” are plastic, including faux vines above the first floor selling area, but not everyone notices.
In the photo above you can see how the subway level green wall is a modular system, allowing easy replacement of plants. It’s great to see a retail company standing out by providing plants and gardens to passer-bys as well as shoppers.
Posted by Shu Kuge, Ph.D on November 9, 2009 at 9:29 am
This wall has different textures created by plants, wood, metal and stone. Many buildings in Tokyo tend to overlook the importance of texture, which enriches one’s everyday experience.
Posted by palmsundae on November 14, 2009 at 2:07 am
Shu, I agree. So many buildings in Tokyo have artificial textures, so it’s nice to see the use of various natural materials on the Marui department store.
Posted by Vertical Garden Guru on November 9, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I am interested to know what vertical garden system they used.
Vertical Garden Guru
http://www.vertical-garden.net.au