Conradt Optik

Mosbach, Germany
Photo © Zooey Braun
Photo © Zooey Braun
Photo © Zooey Braun
Drawing © IF Group
Interior Designers
Ippolito Fleitz Group – Identity Architects
Location
Hauptstraße 7, 74821 Mosbach, Germany
Year
2009

The town of Mosbach lies around 30 km north of Heilbronn and is an important medium-sized centre for the region. Conradt Optik is an established specialist opticians located in the centre of the town’s pedestrian precinct. After many successful years of operation, the business is now being handed over to the next generation of owners. The new owners are looking to differentiate themselves from the competition through focusing on a select segment of brands and individual customer care. This new direction has been further underscored through a comprehensive refurbishment programme.

The entire building façade was renewed as part of the renovations, thereby making the shop’s new profile immediately evident from the outside. Long windows stretch down to the ground, giving maximum insight into the representative interior, which in itself becomes the window display. An adjacent shop space was incorporated into the existing space, producing an elegantly elongated floor plan. The space opens straight onto the pedestrian precinct on two sides. Both entrances lead towards the main service counter, which serves as the centrepiece of the room. The rear wall merges seamlessly with the ceiling, which contains a recessed area giving onto the longitudinal side. This design differentiates the area for browsing from the customer service area, as well as connecting the two entrances with each other. The recessed ceiling is decorated with a fine structure of lines in subtle tones of brown, mauve and blue, evoking associations with the stroma and play of lines in the iris. The room is encapsulated by an organically curved rear wall, which brings a generous dynamic to the space. It conceals existing fittings such as the stairs and workshop, and is connected with the ceiling via a wide-radius cavetto. Its soft contours formulate the wide-open horizon of the space, while at the same time dividing it into individual zones, which group the product line naturally into glasses for women, men and children. The glasses are displayed in three recessed horizontal bays, which span almost the entire length of the rear wall. Precision front and rear lighting creates a stunning presentation space for the glasses. Flush-set storage space for the entire product line runs beneath the display bays.

Parallel to the windows on the longitudinal side are three floating displays. These are set at a slight angle and are reserved for the opticians’ range of sunglasses. Continuous rear lighting ensures that the eye is drawn to the beauty of the products themselves, while simultaneously giving a rhythm and depth to the space.

Various free-standing display cases provide space for special presentations. Oval displays set in eye-catching places in the rear wall create attractive focal points for customers entering the shop.

Client
Conradt Optik GmbH

Size
210 sqm

Team
Peter Ippolito, Gunter Fleitz, Alexander Fehre, Tim Lessmann, Christian Kirschenmann, Vincent Gabriel, Anne Lambertz, Axel Knapp (Graphics), Yuan Peng (Graphics)

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