Aesop Opens Sydney Flagship by Snøhetta

Upholding their reputation for meticulously considered store design, Aesop has again collaborated with Norway-based architecture firm Snøhetta for their latest Australian opening. Aesop Pitt Street, set on a pedestrian mall in Sydney CBD, is the skincare company’s largest space to date and Snøhetta’s first Australian retail interior.

“There was a desire to make a space that would withstand an unprecedented level of use. That it would have the spirit of all that is great about Aesop. That it would have an environment that is soothing, calm, transforming,” says Snøhetta’s Peter Girgis.

The Pitt Street store celebrates Aesop’s evolution over the past three decades after being founded in 1987, and serves as a symbolic marker in its growth to come. The design brings the magnitude and equanimity of coastal escarpments to the bustling city environment. Within the sandstone building, a monumental granite structure wraps around the interior in reference to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s 1968-9 ‘Wrapped Coast’, which rendered the sandstone cliffs of Little Bay as a theatrical, lunar landscape.

The store’s façade holds a dialogue between the contrasting tones of sandstone and granite. While sandstone is the prevailing local geology, the pavements of Sydney’s central business district are lined with granite, an igneous rock known for its strength and durability. The granite’s texture is the result of being both hewn by a local stonemason and scored by a bridge-saw, which introduces consistency of pattern against its hand-chiselled face.

The set-back threshold unfolds into a vast granite chamber. Stone steps rise into an amphitheatre at the heart of the store, allowing visitors the opportunity to pause and reflect. Three staggered sinks enable encounters with Aesop’s products, evoking the comfort of one’s own home with the added guidance of in-store skincare consultants. A large stainless steel counter with basins allows further opportunity to trial and test product.

“This store is true to the spirit that’s present in all Aesop stores. It feels like an evolution. The question is: how can a monumental space give a feeling of comfort and intimacy? Imagine you’re in a cathedral or a vast valley. Yes, there’s a feeling of greatness, but there’s also a sense of smallness, of introspection, of perspective. This contradiction is where our design sits,” says Girgis.

See more projects from Snøhetta on Yellowtrace here.