SOPHIE HICKS ARCHITECTS

Acne Studios, which is now opening their first flagship store in South Korea, did not insist upon the main street view of Cheongdam-dong as many ordinary launchings of other brands. The building has hidden itself deep behind an alley at a backside road of the main street. At the end of the narrow blind alley, however, the store looks like it conceals what it should reveal, and it reveals what it should conceal; pulling out air-conditioning units and pipes which like its entrails. The irony is that the location and the appearance of the store shows appear not only as a play on the chaotic scenery of our city, but on another order of chaos that speaks to disorderliness. SPACE meets the British architect Sophie Hicks, who designed Acne Studios Cheongdam, to enquire about the ironical background of the store.