L’Atelier du Miel boutique is located in Tabaris-Achrafieh, a busy neighborhood in the center of Beirut, and is fully dedicated to honey and honey products.
The main architectural challenge faced when designing the boutique was to be able to display the largest variety of honey types that come in three jar sizes each,and to stock the largest quantity of honey in a small space of 30sqm.
The concept created by architecture bureau 1000yearsold(1000yearsold.com)is the result of a joint effort between architectural design and graphic design, and proposes a solution that unifies display and storage in custom designed modules that would fit the three jar sizes.
As a result, the 30 sqm boutique can fit more than 3 tonsof honey simultaneously,and display more than 30 kinds of honey and honey products while giving each kind its importance in the overall design.
We carefully chose the galvanized metal grating as material for our modules, because its lightness and reflectiveness give emphasis to the products rather than just creating storage space.
Much more than only proposing a solution, the design also tells a story – one that reflects nature’s cycle and the seasonal work of the bees. In fact, given each honey kind is branded with a different color, the dominant color of the boutique changes according to the season and the honey we harvest – for example in the spring the dominant color in the boutique is red reflecting cherry blossom honey harvest, while in the summer, the color of the boutique tends towards green reflecting the oak honey harvest.
The 2 tons harvest is displayed in small jars, each in its own module, exactly the way bees store nectar of flowers in the hexagons of their hives. The continuity of modularity in the metal grating itself, repeating the modularity of the jar cubicles at a smaller scale, also opens up a window to sends us back to where it all began – in the fields.
Project Details:
Location: Tabaris-Achrafieh, Lebanon
Type: Commercial
Architects: 1000 Years Old – www.1000yearsold.com
Photos: Ieva Saudargaité
