Incredible staircase in SoHo
By James Robert Watson, PhD
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The story
Longchamp, a women's accessory store established in Paris in 1948, opened a store in SoHo in New York City. The location was a 1936 building at the corner of Spring and Greene streets. Because they had a small street level storefront, they told the architect, Thomas Heatherwick of London (isn't Thomas Heatherwick a great English name?) to make an entry so intriguing people would want to climb to the second floor. He succeeded.


The undulating steel plates (55 tons of steel) and linoleum inserts form a spectacular entrance. This installation of ribbon-like forms cascades down through the skylit core, dividing and converging; making a topography of walkways, landings, and steps.


Entrance level, door at bottom of diagram. Second level sales floor (the third level is for buyers and vendors only).

More great stuff - the stairway railings are bent plexiglas that undulate and drape as fabric might. The display shelves are strips of plywood that have been peeled down from the ceiling - each veneer layer of ply peels up to form a shelf. The frames in the bathroom are integrated with molding - a morphing of images, frames, and wall. I even got a personally guided tour including a terrace overlooking SoHo, the buyer's private sales room.





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