Anime House

Nestled in the corner of Level 3 of the 309 building at Westfield Newmarket, the 125m2 tenancy was narrow and long. Sandwiched between Noel Leeming and ANZ Bank, the design team were tasked with creating a concept that was exciting, striking and thrifty. This was to be achieved through simplicity in form and materials, complemented by bold statements of colour and lighting. With a very tight budget, Anime House needed a retail environment that suited their product. To achieve this a simple, but powerful design ethos was chosen that incorporated vibrant colours at the core.

The client had expressed that they wanted a store design that was in keeping with the essence of the products. The Westfield Retail Design Managers encouraged creating an experience that created excitement.

Despite being well versed in retail design, this project was the design team's first retail experience working with Anime products. The design team used this opportunity to go wild and explore beyond comfort zones, drawing inspiration for the colours from some of the best-selling Anime products. Resene Home Run was inspired by the 'Hanoko Kun' Japanese manga series, Resene Sunrise drew inspiration from the 'Dragonball Z' character outfits and Resene Sea Fog was chosen for the remainder of the space because it has always proven a solid and dependable colour that works equally on its own as well as providing a backdrop for feature colours.

The shopfront portal and structure are designed to emulate a residential truss frame, while incorporating angles from neighbouring tenancies. To deliver a striking presence in the mall concourse, Resene SpaceCote in Resene Home Run was used to ensure maximum visibility in the darker section of the mall. The chamfered shopfront plinth sits proud with an angled perforated panel backing for visual merchandising. This area is finished off with limited-edition life-size statues of prominent characters from Dragonball Z to Ironman. The angled theme continues in store, with suspended LED batten lighting echoing the shopfront portal.

The centre of the store features Resene SpaceCote in Resene Sunrise on 45 degree angles across all surfaces, creating a vortex to draw you into the colourful world of Anime, pop culture figures and Japanese replica swords. This burst of orange encompasses all within it from mechanical ductwork to display tables. The green and orange pops of colour are complemented by Resene Sea Fog, which allows the feature colours to take centre stage. The fit-out is further complemented by full height glazing at the rear of the store, that fills the store with natural light while looking over Broadway below. The rear part of the store is anchored by a Strandboard lined counter. This contrasting material helps to identify the customer service area and sits nicely within the orange vortex. The Strandboard is also continued through as the storeroom external lining, forming the sword display wall and poster area.

The thrifty element of the brief was implemented using a modular shelving system that gives the retailer the flexibility and versatility to merchandise their varied product offer how they see fit. The joinery units are broken up in the centre of the space by grid mesh display walls, that allow the retailer to display a range of products that complement each other from backpacks to wallets.

One of the challenges was completing the entire project from design through to construction for a very small budget and compact timeframe. However, this parameter gave us the opportunity to investigate more cost-effective ways of designing, as well as delivering the project in record time.

This store was a fantastic opportunity to deliver a colourful and playful space that reflects the bright nature of the product offer.

Architectural specifier: AND Limited
Building contractor: OnPoint Projects NZ Ltd
Project: Resene Total Colour Awards 2020