Text description provided by the architects. Bulgari’s flagship store in Kuala Lumpur has opened with a new fac?ade that imagines the luxury brand’s heritage, and experiments with traditional materials. The storefront is the first in a series of MVRDV fac?ade designs for the luxury brand. This concrete and resin facade is permeated by gold light to create a marble-veined fac?ade.

For over a century, Bulgari has set the pace for Italian style with a forward-looking, creative spirit that draws inspiration from the timeless beauty of Roman art, while giving it a distinctive contemporary touch.

MVRDV’s design draws on inspiration from the luxury brand’s heritage. The cornice of via Condotti is a set element used asymmetrically in different locations over the world, and its iconic marble fac?ade now reinvented and reinterpreted by material experiments. In Kuala Lumpur, a fac?ade which by day is striking but organic, whilst at night, a more dramatic effect is achieved.

This innovative fac?ade developed from a research-process in collaboration with Technical University Delft, and Tensoforma, who worked on fac?ade production. The result of which was a new product for the store. Glass Reinforced Concrete (GRC) was cut according to pattern and filled within with resin then illuminated by amber LED Lights. A stainless steel sheet acts as a base for the resin, with panel joints hidden and integrated into the vein pattern. Either during the day or at night time, the Bulgari fac?ade that achieves the desired translucent effect emanating a warm amber glow.

The new catalogue for future Bulgari storefront fac?ades can be adopted globally, making them instantly recognisable and unique in any context. An approach offering endless possibilities that combine sophisticated detailing with high-quality materials.

• Architects

  MVRDV

• Location

  Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Category

  Store

• Design Team

  Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries

• Area

  103.4 m2

• Project Year

  2018

• Photographs

  Daria Scagliola and Edit – Stijn Brakkee