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BLUEMOON | By Julie Heath The Straits Times November 28th 1990 | Entry to Blue Moon store, down a fiber optically lit stainless steel stair
Blue fiber optic 'stars' twinkle in a field of dark blue metallic paint at the left of the entry stair
An air of mystery seems to be built into the structure of the interior itself. Display chamber float above their supports, one material never touching the next
Crescent moon shaped cashier counters covered in etched glass with a mirror placed below
Display elements are taken to their structural limit. Flying saucer ellipse shaped table displays seem float over a black terrazzo floor imbedded with mirror chips and crisscrossed with brass strips
BlueMoon Cuscaden Road, Singapore
Project Design Team : Poole Associates Private Limited Ed Poole, Michael Roche [HPL Retail] e:mail contact@poole-associates.com T 65 | 6536 | 3928 X Main Contractor : Futuristic Furniture Pte Ltd 34 Woodlands Industrial Park, E1 Singapore 75747 T 65 | 6365 | 2822 |
B L U E S T E E L An air of mystery is built into the interior design of BlueMoon store and Scoops Cafe. JULIE HEATH looks at how the futuristic feel is achieved. Singapore's new Blue Moon store and adjoining Scoops Cafe have tackled the concept of 'lifestyle' head-on. Lifestyle, an attitude well-known to yuppies who have made good taste and quality their bywords, implies attention to the details involved in life and style, and the design of Scoops and Blue Moon smoothly reflects the lifestyle concept. Ed Poole has created an interior which is as boldly different in its way as anything yet publicly seen in Singapore. The two adjoining areas of this project, Scoops Cafe, and Blue Moon 'lifestyle' store - a merchandising mix of young designer fashion and accessories, wacky gifts and gadgets, CD's and arty posters and cards - are separate yet closely related by the many design elements which are carried through both spaces. Tucked underneath Hard Rock Cafe in Cuscaden Road, the finished design concept for this project includes a computerized sound-and-light show which will entertain Scoops customers enjoying late-night ice-creams and the die-hard Hard Rock denizens who queue for entry come the weekend. The Blue Moon name conjured up images of mystery and the future for designer Ed Poole, and the many futuristic and atmospheric elements lend the design of both areas its unchartered feel. But this is no space-like void. Hard metallic finishes lend Scoops Cafe a shiny, sophisticated air and the cafe furniture, round tables with patterned brushed steel tops and polished aluminum and synthetic rattan chairs, evoke a stylish Left Bank Parisian sidewalk atmosphere. The cafe specializes in light snacks of ice-cream, coffee and pastries. Lighting in both Scoops and Blue Moon adds to the sparkly futuristic feel. Track lighting recessed into the lilac ceiling crisscrosses in a seemingly random manner and clusters of small green, pink and blue tinged spots range like shooting stars across a night sky. Light reflects off Scoops' shiny surfaces and enhances the effect of the carefully arranged shelves of glass ice-cream dishes behind the counter. The large expanses of the unit fronts have been broken up with metallic paints in silver and gold, so reducing their scale. A cafe counter of opaque glass floats in front of the units, the glass surface echoing that of the crescent moon-shaped Blue Moon sales counters. This careful treatment has resulted in a set of functional units quite unlike their more familiar clumsy white counterparts. But one of Scoops' more special finishing touches is the design treatment given to the restrooms. Reached down a black-tiled corridor, over which waves a deep purple suspended ceiling, are the stainless steel facilities which feature exotic alien-inspired and space ship-styled matt black taps from Japan. An air of mystery seems to be built into the structure of the interior itself. Display chambers float strangely on their hidden supports, one material never actually touching another. No surface obviously rests upon its base; not even the walls touch the ceiling. Everything is stretched to its structural limit, 'dangerously cantilevered', laughs the designer. A visit to Blue Moon is a voyage of discovery. The sense of mystery is enhanced by the intriguing 'infinity box' display cabinets, which also add their touch of the unexpected to Scoops. These green-tinted mirrored boxes allow the viewer a glimpse of the store's most select items through a flying saucer-inspired ellipse of glass. Careful thought has been given to the materials used as well as their spatial juxtaposition. A hammer-tone paint is used for the walls and the exposed fronts of the counters, while the display case base units are finished in cost-conscious metallic auto body paint, and topped by flush fitting steel tops treated with hydrochloric acid to give a natural rugged look. Tensioned aircraft cables balustrade one side of the striking stainless steel staircase which dramatically defines Blue Moon's entrance. Aluminum, abrased with a metal brush, is used for the floating elliptical display units, also supported by tensioned aircraft cables and made distinctive by curly cord electrical wires. The choice of such a light metal as aluminum, which seems to float in space, expresses the designer's ready sympathy with the nature of his materials. Selected items are displayed on sandblasted glass ellipses. Mounted on mirrors, the light from the clustered spots above each unit is diffused by the mirror-mounted glass and turns it a mysterious opaque silvery-green. The flying saucer ellipse is a planetary element echoed throughout the interior, as is the blue moon planet motif which tops the cloths racks and the three shiny stanchions which mark Scoops' entrance. The striking use of fiber optic technology forms one of the interior's major visual elements. Lively blue-starred vistas line the entrance walkway and front the sales counters. The tiny multi-colored twinkles attract attention from outside and catch the eye of Scoops customers. A major feature of this interior concept is flexibility. This interior can change before your very eyes. The clothes racks with their elliptical mirrors are easily moved around on wheels on the granite-and-glass terrazzo floor, as are the mobile changing cubicles. Shelving and lighting systems are also easily movable as the merchandising concept changes. Flexibility of this nature is a crucial concept for an interior such as this, which must be able to alter chameleon-like and change its identity as necessary to keep up with the fickle world of style and image. |
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