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All photos courtesy of Chris Eden/Callison

For Harvey Nichols' new Dubai, U.A.E., store—the brand's largest outside the U.K., Callison designers focused on sleek luxury. "While Harvey Nichols is renowned for its exclusive appeal, Dubai shopping tastes demand something extra," says Callison Principal Dawn Clark.

That meant creating such wow factors as dramatic lighting and visual displays amplifying excitement and buzz. The modern, edgy, designer-fashion-focused store is defined by strong structural elements, minimalist detailing, modern finishes, and exceptional lighting. The geometric design of its mall-side façade, repeated on each level, reinforces its position as the luxury anchor store surrounded by luxury brands. Large show windows highlight inventive, engaging displays.

Seamless sparkle and glow
The store integrates retail function and sophisticated style, taking advantage of carefully designed ceilings, planned sightlines, and large-scale architectural features. A three-level escalator volume, lit by an array of overhead circular LED fixtures constantly shifting colors, gives customers traveling up and down enticing glimpses onto each level.

"Our goal was to entice the customer to explore the entire store," explains Clark. Rather than down raceway aisles, traffic flows organically from one area to the next. This allows shoppers to get close to product and interact with merchandise in a sensory way and offers flexibility for future designer shops.

Callison created rooms or halls that group similar merchandise attitudes. For example, women's fashion has five areas: designer ready to wear, bridge ready to wear, contemporary designers, intimate apparel, and casual/denim. Each area is delineated with unique architecture and finishes, including ceiling treatments and flooring patterns. Casework finished with deep textural woods used extensively in the ladies' designer area contrasts with the white, large-scale gloss agglomerate floor tile.

The flooring throughout the store is nearly all hard-surface; carpet is specified in only a few areas, such as the Ladies' Shoe Salon and Intimate Apparel, which also includes frosted glass privacy screening in deference to the Middle Eastern shopper's emphasis on modesty. Otherwise, highly polished wood, stone and other hard surfaces reinforce the sparkling, edgy atmosphere.

Lighting adds depth, energy
The lighting is bright compared to European standards. A variety of lighting types reinforces zoning. A backlit stretch matrix ceiling system on the first floor allows for glowing, colored light to wash the space, adding visual interest and energy.

Furniture includes modern classic pieces from designers such as Warren Platner and Eero Saarinen, balanced with custom-designed pieces of exaggerated scale and uncommon materials. Together with custom fixtures, display pieces, and fittings, it creates a seamless atmosphere of edgy luxury.

Design supports "what's next" approach
"It was important that this store set the bar in terms of being out in front of what's next," says Clark. The retail benchmark in Dubai is high and the Harvey Nichols customer is a connoisseur of global fashion and design trends, so Callison sought to incorporate changeability into the design. Sensory effects like color-shifting lighting and flat-screen animation as well as the no-aisle planning and adaptable platforms make updating presentations more efficient and effective.

"The customer response has been outstanding," said Shireen El Khatib, general manager of Al Tayer Fashion & Jewelry Division and Harvey Nichols. "With the brand's heritage of over 190 years of catering to a distinguished and discerning clientele and offering a range of shopping experiences and solutions, Harvey Nichols Dubai carries forward this legacy in the same style. Callison distilled the essence of Harvey Nichols for the Middle East by designing a luxury landmark."