A response to the difficulties of casual leasing finds its answer in Matt Gibson Architecture & Design’s ‘pop-up’ store in Melbourne Central.

At ‘The Coop’ an innovative retail opportunity meets an experimental installation, a design which offers a unique and sustainable space for emerging commercials to showcase their goods.

Opting for individuality in favour of global concepts, the brief from the GPT was to make effective use of a disused access corridor with an economically sustainable design that was low cost, functional and fun.

Combining the use of raw timber and recycled materials, Gibson’s design references childhood memories of incubators and chicken coops.

This chook coop appears as a clean container embedded with the “constructivist aesthetic” of the humble chicken home, with flaps dotted around, enabling it to morph into formations depending on the tenant’s whim.

‘The Coop’ impressed the judges at the 2009 IFI Design Excellence Awards, winning the Retail Design category thanks to “a resourceful use of materials: it is practical and honest but still encourages a unique retail experience”.

“With quirky opening and fresh, fun approach, this project is testament to the designer’s talent an ingenuity.”