Awards

Lumen Awards 2024 — Award of MERIT — Khaite New York, NY

October 23rd, 2024

As the first standalone store for Khaite, this Downtown NYC location carried high expectations. The brand’s fresh and feminine online image starkly contrasts with the brutalist environment.

The design team was inspired by natural light, preserving scale and openness while creating intimate spaces using concealed electric sources. Lighting is applied sparingly: each interaction is curated to guide your eye through product and path. “Sunlight,” both natural and electric, filters through ceiling breaks. At the oculus, a fabric membrane admits daylight, while hiding mechanicals. LED strips above, boost illumination during overcast days.

Linear grazers within perimeter niches mimic the harsh cutoff of sunlight. As light enters, the textural quality of varied materials is revealed. Meanwhile, adjustable ceiling accent lights highlight product with slightly warmer color temperatures. Saturated-red fitting rooms stand out vividly. Concealed LEDs flanking the full-height mirrors and dropped ceiling provide diffused light.

Full-scale paper mock-ups used lighting fixture samples to create the desired lighting points, lines, and planes. Tunable-white LED sources shift in color and intensity, mimicking the sun over the course of the day. Further, the control system alters light and sound, allowing the store to function as a sales floor, runway, or event space.