Stephan Jaklitsch’s design of Marc Jacobs’ new Tokyo store is a celebration of the craft of architecture, writes Lucy Bullivant.
January 28th, 2011
A tall tactile lantern-topped building, Marc Jacobs’ new store in Tokyo by the interior designer Stephan Jaklitsch is the latest architectural addition to Omotesando Avenue in Tokyo, a mix of renowned internationally designed buildings in this quiet residential neighbourhood.
Next door to Herzog & de Meuron’s Prada, the three floor structure with its differing façade treatments reads like Japanese packaging.
Jaklitsch has offices in New York and Tokyo and is responsible for all Jacobs’ stores globally.
Jacobs loves Japanese aesthetics and his Tokyo store emphasises the craft of architecture.
The design of the transparent and open ground extends the granite floor and tactile refinement of the design to the street. From here the striated structure above it which houses women’s ready to wear can be seen.
Made of custom-designed terracotta tiles broken around the edges to given them a jagged texture, and adhered to the building with a clip system, it also serves as a passive heating and cooling system because the tiles sit off the building and allow air to circulate beneath them.
Inside this level, a black and white palette echoes the façade’s dramatic tonal play, while the upper level has the intimate feel of a living room like Jacobs’ other Collection stores (documented in Jaklitsch’s Habits, Patterns and Algorithms book, 2009, ORO Editions), with warm sycamore shelving and seating by Christian Liaigre and hand-blown black and clear glass pendant lamps.
The top portion of the building is made of perforated aluminium panels wrapped like tape around a substructure, giving it a visible pattern.
It is also a kosakubutsu, a structural device that allows a doubling of the building’s visual height above two occupied floors, and which at night becomes a glowing beacon.
Photography by Liao Yusheng
Stephan Jaklitsch
sjaklitsch.com
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
XTRA celebrates the distinctive and unexpected work of Magis in their Singapore showroom.
In design, the concept of absence is particularly powerful – it’s the abundant potential of deliberate non-presence that amplifies the impact of what is. And it is this realm of sophisticated subtraction that Gaggenau’s Dishwasher 400 Series so generously – and quietly – occupies.
Within the intimate confines of compact living, where space is at a premium, efficiency is critical and dining out often trumps home cooking, Gaggenau’s 400 Series Culinary Drawer proves that limited space can, in fact, unlock unlimited culinary possibilities.
Offering a variety of communal spaces and facilities to its residents, this new South Yarra development expands on the traditional scope of luxury apartment living.
A Trendy Furniture Sliding Glass/Timber Door Solution that Offers Freedom of Design.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
The fourth edition of the First Nations Writers Festival took place in May 2025, and we spoke to Baka Barakove Bina about the importance of place and home in his writing, as well as the things that make the Pacific region so distinctive.
Pairing his honed expertise with a unique design language, Zachary Frankel is shaping his own world his way.
Leading through design with culture at the fore, Andrew Tu’inukuafe and Barrington Gohns as Luminaries in 2025 are making change that benefits people and place throughout our region.
The Australian Passivhaus Association (APA) has released a guide outlining the process for achieving the international Passivhaus Standard, providing clarity on appropriate use of the term and the legal risks of incorrect assertions.