KKI SWEETS AND THE LITTLE DRÖM STORE

COMPLETED

FUNCTION: Restaurant/Retail

AREA: 150 sqm

LOCATION: 1 Zubir Said Drive, #02-01 School of The Arts (SOTA), SINGAPORE

AWARD: 2015 WORLD FESTIVAL OF INTERIORS, RETAIL CATEGORY WINNER

Earlier on in Harold Bloom's Anxiety of Influence, he warned against the paralyzing anguish, doubt and self consciousness that masterful precursors inevitably instill in young poets. Rather than mere submission to "source study", Bloom offered six methods of creative misprision to help young poets overcome the struggle against the old masters.

Building KKI + DROM in the School of the Arts (SOTA) provided that anxiety. The anguish of merely to create a work of competitive standards with one of the most important buildings in Singapore, much less to exceed its influence. The approach therefore was to engage in the SOTA building consciously instead of misreading it.

The design of the shop is a distillation of the SOTA building into its most essential diagram - a datum plane and the volumes that it segregates. The plane is designed as a porous trellis so that the entire diagram can be observed and experienced from within. Volumes above the plane hints at the imaginary while the volumes below are adapted to practical requirements of eating and merchandising, forming tables and shelves, and intimate interiors and close-knitted exteriors.

In an attempt at Bloom's Demonisation (or Counter-Sublime) and Apophrades (or "return of the dead") method, the project taps into the deep structure of SOTA and seeks not only to formulate an alternative interpretation of the type but to provide a diagram from which SOTA can be read.

The result is a shop space for Kki Sweets and The Little Dröm Store that is a distillation of the SOTA building into its most essential diagram – a datum plane and the volumes that it segregates (i.e. the essence of SOTA’s architecture is a triple-layered parti with performance auditoriums at the base and classrooms on top. The middle layer, the datum plane, is an open mezzanine looking down at the auditorium foyers).

The datum plane within the shop is designed as a porous trellis so that the entire diagram can be observed and experienced from within. In the Kki Sweets section, volumes above the plane hints at the imaginary while the volumes below are adapted to practical requirements of eating and merchandising, forming tables and shelves, intimate interiors, and close-knitted exteriors.

The site offers a 19.3m long x 3.6m high glass frontage facing an open stage in the atrium. The large glass surface allows the shops to participate in performance space instead of being outside of it. Hence the design of the shops is expressed as a cross section with the glass façade forming the cutting plane. When viewed from the stage, one is able to see clearly the relationship of the different parts in the shop space, much like a framed section drawing.

With the idea of the datum plane linking the two shops at a higher level, the shops are actually conceived as separate and independent entities on the ground. They are seen as occupying an open space, and separated by an “internal street" leading in from the main door with their frontage and signage orientated toward each other. This street-like space extends into KKI, meandering between the volumes of rooms.

Kki Sweets wants to present an image that is simple and clean yet pristine and refined, to reflect their cakes which have simple geometric shapes but complex in details and construction.

They also want an intimate environment for conversations to happen, and to present their new line “Kki Home”, which focuses on crafted lifestyle items. Being a new brand, Kki Home needs a distinct presence in the shop space. As such, Kki is conceived as a series of volumes or “houses” dispersed across an open space forming interstitial streets.

The envelope of the houses has built-in tables that allows for conversations to happen between the exterior and interior; painting a village-like community with spaces that are subdued and reserved, and ideal for intimate experiences.