Pro Portfolio: Quiksilver’s lofty new Venice store
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Verdego Design recently completed a new Venice showcase for Quiksilver, transforming the former home of Samy’s Camera, a brick shell with exposed beams and an attached prefab steel building. The project, completed in December, has some ideas that are easy to imagine translated to the home, so we’ve selected it as the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.
Project: Quiksilver’s flagship store
Location: L.A. neighborhood of Venice
Designers: Tatiana Barhar and Sarai Grenell, Verdego Design, Los Angeles. Collaborators include Steve Jones; artists and muralists Craig Stecyk, Kevin Ancell, Anthony Friedkin, Blakeney Sanford, Peter Schroff; graphic designer Tom Adler; landscape architect Mark Tessier; and architect Caryn Bailey.
Designers’ description: We began by looking at the lifestyle and culture of Venice and its long history of surf and art as well as the Quiksilver brand and how it is embedded into the community. We tried to build connections between art, fashion and architecture.
We used an urban palette for the storefront that should age well. Dark zinc soffits and wall panels contrast and highlight the original brick of the building, and perforated metal panels allow the building to glow like a lantern in the night. Several of the original windows were kept in place or replicated. The prefab accessory building was restored and updated by cladding it with dark zinc, emphasizing the urban palette.
A 15-foot LCD display of vintage surf footage was specially designed for the space. Vintage and new surf art as well as displays celebrating Quiksilver’s team riders are displayed throughout the store. Some areas have reclaimed wood that feels touched by the elements. The palette is natural yet light, with flea market paintings and art installations painted directly onto the featured materials.
Working with Josh Rosen of Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture, we decided to bring nature into the space by designing and building a 14-foot vertical garden of air plants, above, lighted by one of the skylights in the store. This interior garden is an abstraction of the exterior landscape; a series of floor-to-ceiling steel frames provide the armature for hundreds of tillandsia.
Outside, the screens, fences and walls are designed as armature for vines and plants to grow as green walls. The elongated side yard is a skate friendly environment with linear bands of concrete. A mural by Ancell, above, is a defining element with its powerful imagery on the brick wall.
To see more of the interior design as well as the landscape, keep reading ...
The original brick was left intact and sandblasted.
Dark zinc soffits and wall panels contrast with the old brick.
A bike rack out front.
Steel planters in elliptical forms by Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture.
Door leads toward the store, where the ceiling structure was left exposed.
The skate area at the front of the store is reminiscent of an autobody shop with large metal panels and a black framed ‘garage door’ area with shoes. The materials are simple plywood painted black with darkened steel supports.
In this part of the store, walls were made with reclaimed wood. The blue round resin artwork is by Sanford.
Sequential skating videos set up in another part of the store.
The fitting room doors are stained cedar with frosted wired glass.
The space toward the rear of the store will function as a gallery and pop-up shop. Floating steel panels allow for rotating displays.
The original windows were left intact.
The store is surrounded by punctuations of green including native California sycamore trees, meadow grasses and cape rush plants. The goal was a mix of textures, colors and scents. The tall steel posts can be used to provide light at night as well as shade.
The rear courtyard, used for events as well as by employees and customers, is designed for flexibility. Plant containers and picnic tables can be moved. Projection screens in the backyard will be used for outdoor film screening as well as surf and skate footage.
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-- Lisa Boone
Pro Portfolio appears every Monday. Submit projects to home@latimes.com.
