Attenzione! The Brits are coming! For years, the area known as the 'golden triangle' in Milan has been dominated by premium Italian brands. Now however, British-led houses such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Jimmy Choo and now Burberry are the new kids on the block. The Milan store, representing Burberry's first foray into the Italy after almost 150 years of trading, is located on via Verri 7 and covers 8,300 sq ft over three floors designed by London-based architects Virgile & Stone.
The lighting scheme by Tony Rimmer, Sam Neuman and Chris Slingsby of Imagination had to mirror the contemporary design work by being clean and crisp. Lights had to be inconspicuous but at the same time create accent and highlights with varying colour temperatures. The lighting scheme was produced to compliment the high quality natural British materials used to reinforce the Burberry brand.
Burberry had other requirements that were derived from their previous experiences with recently opened stores in London and Spain. As with their other stores, Burberry didn't want too many lights as they produce excessive light levels and too much heat, both of which prove costly. The solution was a bespoke designed ceiling cove that contained all the lights, air conditioning and services. This cove would be internally illuminated to create 'slivers' of light in a clean ceiling and avoid the clutter associated with the amount of downlights or tracks so often used in retail lighting.
A full size cove was mocked up and all the internal angles were considered to give the optimum reflections, which created a flat even wash of light. This was produced by hidden rows of cold cathode with a colour temperature to match the downlights. The downlights were offset inside the cove to produce greater angles of projection to illuminate merchandise. The recess depth behind the ceiling was limited by the introduction of new steels during the build process and the only gimbal type downlight that had this minimal depth and the variety of fixtures was made by Modular.
Modular multiple fittings were custom sprayed white and used throughout the store as they had an extensive variety of lamp types and configurations that no other manufacturer could compete with. These were complimented by the Modular Lotis fixtures, which gave the illusion of the ceiling and light fixture being one.
iGuzzini Shuttle track and spot was used to light the window displays and the Mini Woody fixture were positioned on the balconies and in the garden. An Intralux continuous fluorescent system was used in smaller coves, changing rooms and either side of the three-storey staircase. On the ground floor the main feature wall was covered in raw oak and was lit with Agabekov xenon strip lights hidden in channels behind shelving to give a warm glow to the wall.
The main attraction to the Milan store is the introduction of the 'Rainroom' which connects the two collections of the mens- and womenswear on the second floor. This room has a combination of lighting and a 60 ft long video installation on the ceiling using abstract sound and moving imagery based around the British weather. The lighting is controlled by dimmers to adjust the levels so they compliment the projection and don't wash out the effects.
Tony Rimmer sums up the scheme when he states: "The Burberry image has changed dramatically over recent years and to develop a lighting scheme that compliments this brand was a pleasant change to the run of the mill retail. The lighting became more theatrical with areas of art, photography, installations and features that required a specialist approach creating mood and drama, rather than high levels of light."