RIBA Shanghai Windows Pelle Moda | Markus Jatsch Partners

The concept for the RIBA Shanghai Windows Project for the shoe manufacturer Pelle Moda is based on the fairy tale The Empress’s New Shoes. The story relates to Pelle Moda’s philosophy and describes the life changing power of specially hand crafted shoes. It expresses the artistic design and the luxurious craftsmanship of Pelle Moda’s shoes and their emotional exclusivity. The design concept is holistic and takes on the entire store front. It engages the viewer in an intimate story telling environment and encases the visitor in a unique light-space environment. The design is based on two main elements: - a two layered, translucent curtain around the entire store with a coloured light wall towards the mall entrance lobby - five dioramas with scenes from The Empress’s New Shoes The light wall with coloured fluorescent light marks the location of the store from far away. The light will radiate deep into the mall and its atrium and also to the outside, onto the sidewalk and the street. The intensity will create curiosity and wonder. The light creates a calm and serene place within the busy city life, attracting visitors from a distance where the store itself would not be visible yet. A scrim curtain runs along the entire window front and mystifies the shop interior. It builds up a sense of curiosity and anticipation and emphasizes the luxurious and exclusive quality of the brand. The five dioramas are located along the atrium facing store windows. They penetrate the curtain on eye level, providing an intimate interaction and enabling viewers to enter the wonderland of The Empress’s New Shoes. The dioramas depict key scenes from the story in a surreal white atmosphere with the shoes as the only coloured object. The Empress’s New Shoes Introduction Once upon a time there were three Artists. The Artists were known throughout the land for making the most amazing shoes anyone had ever seen. The shoes were crafted from materials of unearthly beauty, and could transfigure the homely foot, the unshapely calf, or the gnarled knee, into the most heavenly human leg imaginable. If the wearer of the shoes walked along the boulevard, conversations would pause, small children playing marbles would stop their games; all eyes would follow the methodical rhythm of the shoes as they graced the now splendid sidewalk. And the music that the shoes made when they touched the ground engendered the most inexplicable delight in the hearts of those nearby. Late one night, while the Artists worked inside their shed fashioning a pair of shoes, they heard a knock on the door. Now the Artists kept a cat who had an nearly spherical head, and upon hearing the noise, all the thousands of hairs on his fluffy body stood on end. To their surprise, it was an old friend, the Royal Doctor! The Artists laughed with enjoyment at such an unexpected treat. The four friends played Mahjong for long hours, talking of their youth and growing up together. At midnight, the Doctor collected his coat and bag. He turned over his shoulder and whispered in the ears of his three Artist friends, “Tomorrow you will be summoned by the Empress to make her the best shoes in all the land.” The Royal Doctor slipped away into the purple night, leaving the Artists astonished and full of exhilaration. On their voyage to the Imperial Palace, a wonderful sense of pride and duty began to well up within the Artists. When the Artists arrived at the center of the Imperial Palace itself, they saw a serene, almost cloud-like scene. Hidden within the concentric, expansive rings of walls, lived the great Empress. The Artists were brought to her immediately upon arrival. Each genuflecting before the Empress, the Artists forgot their weariness from travel, utterly overcome by the presence of the Empress. The Artists’ gazes were transfixed for long enough to feel a deep longing, as though they had lived for lifetimes in love. In totality, the Empress was larger than comprehension. It was, in fact, true that she was much larger in size than any human that had ever existed... 1. The Artists Inspect the Empress The Empress greeted the Artists and described a very special pair of shoes that she had dreamt of. The shoes were made from one long red ribbon. She wanted the Artists to make the shoes she envisioned, and also wanted the shoes to make her normal in size, to help her stop growing. Even though she was a heavenly beauty, she was self-conscious about her ever-increasing size, and implored the Artists to help her. The Artists understood the Empress’s wishes, and felt confident that they could make the red ribbon shoes. But they needed to gain a deeper understanding of the Empress’s feet so that they could make shoes that would stop her from growing. The Empress led the three Artists to her inner chamber, where she laid on her enormous bed. The Empress slipped her foot out of her Imperial slipper. The Artists felt the back of her heel for a pulse, each placing two fingers below her ballet arch. For such a beauty, they expected to detect a smooth, rolling, strong pulse. They pressed and pinched the back of the heel, waiting with eyes closed, listening in silence. Ah! They felt a sluggish pulse from deep within. The shallow, weak, and sporadic beat unsettled the Artists. It was then that the Empress’s enthralling vivaciousness unraveled in the eyes of the Artists. Her calf, shaped like a perfect vanilla moon, now looked dangerously fragile. The Artists knew there was something deeply wrong with the Empress, that she was gravely ill. They would have to make shoes that would save the Empress. Shoes that would make her healthy. Shoes that would make her live forever! 2. The Artists Make New Shoes for the Empress One day, while the Artists worked busily at home designing the shoes, their old friend the Royal Doctor came to visit. The Doctor was amazed by what he saw inside their shed. The walls and tabletops were covered in colorful and complex drawings, paintings, models, and maps of the Empress’s feet. Before the Doctor could speak, the Artists explained how through examining the Empresses feet, they found a great destructive cycle in her. They inquired of the good Doctor, “Why did you not tell us the Empress was very sick?” Apologetically, the Doctor explained that the Empress refuses to believe she is sick, and that many times before, he had tried to tell her that she is unhealthy. “Even though the Empress is loving and kind,” the Doctor said, “if I didn’t stop telling her that she was falling ill, then she would have me beheaded!” The Artists where shocked to hear this news. The four old friends looked at each other with empathetic eyes. The Empress’s death was near. The Artists told the Doctor of their plan to journey across the world and acquire precious metals, rare animals, potent plants, the purest stone, the finest earth – all the most superb materials from which the shoes to cure the Empress would be made. As the Doctor listened, he inspected their drawings and models of the Empress’s shoes, and noticed the shoes were not to be made of red ribbon…not one red ribbon! At this, the Doctor grew concerned for the safety of his friends, the Artists. But he said nothing, because he knew of their unwavering devotion to create shoes of immortality for the Empress, and they would not listen to his advice to obey the Empress anyway. The only thing he could do was to help his friends. Together, the Artists and the Doctor worked through winter into the springtime. They spent the following summer, fall, and winter traveling across the land, gathering rare materials. To heal the Empress, the shoes would need to have all the elements of earth and its creatures woven together. Finally, it was spring again, and the shoes were complete. The three Artists were ready to present the shoes to the Empress. 3. The Empress Is Enraged by the New Shoes At last the Artists arrived at the Imperial throne, tense with anticipation, wondering how the Empress would react to their greatest creation. Upon receiving the Artists, the Empress could hardly contain her excitement. For many seasons she had waited to receive her red ribbon shoes. The Artists bowed, presenting the Empress with a golden case in the shape of a circle. They told the Empress that they discovered a sickness within her, which was causing her to grow larger and larger. They explained that shoes made from red ribbon, no matter how fine, could not cure her of her illness. The Artists described how the shoes they created had the power to cure her of growing interminably; how they were laced in a delicate line-work of platinum, how a vein of micoscopic pearls ran down the toes and across golden soles forged from the depths of the earth. At the heels balanced rolling balls of mercury. The shoes were fashioned with leather from cows with emerald eyes, thread hand-woven using the tails of virgin ponies, invisible bells made from the shells of iridescent beetles, water droplets from the mist of the heavenly mountains, and glass amulets blown from the fires of volcanoes. The Artists described how the energy of the world was in the shoes of immortality. And the Empress was furious. With wrath in her voice and crimson in her eyes, she demanded that the Artists return home and make the red ribbon shoes. The Doctor rushed to the side of the Artists, begging them to obey. Blankly, coolly, the Artists refused. The Empress was shocked, her anger so immense that the great hall went up in flames and the granite floor began to melt. The Empress roared, “You, the Artists, have no place telling me what is best for my health! You were given a simple task, and you have failed to do what I asked of you. You were to make me the most beautiful red ribbon shoes on earth. But instead, you have come here and accused me a being sick. You have disgraced yourselves, great Artists. Leave me.” 4. The Empress Locks Away the New Shoes The Doctor brought the shoes of immortality back to the Artists’ shed, and locked the shoes away in a heavy metal box. He didn’t want to see the shoes ever again. He picked up the fluffy cat with the spherical head, and threw him outside, where he landed with a thud and looked up at the Doctor, confused. The Doctor’s heart hurt as he locked the door to the shed behind him, and made his way back to the Capital City. Early the next morning, the Empress had the Artists publicly executed. The Doctor cried for thirty-three days, mourning the death of his three old friends. Three years and three days after the day the Artists were executed, the Empress fell exceedingly ill. What the Artists had anticipated was indeed true: the health of the Empress had been deteriorating all this time, despite her exquisite physique. The Empress retired to her bed and wept for the future of her Empire. All day long, she read poems about fallen Empires of the past. No one in the whole land could console her, nor could they contain their own dismay at the rapid decline in her health. Her beauty began to fade away; her smell changed to that of rotting flesh; her voice sounded like a raspy whisper; her body became disproportionate and misshapen as she grew faster and faster. The Empress was now unable to move. Nearly all of her internal organs faltered, at which point she went completely blind. Upon her deathbed, the Empress remembered the Artists, and how they foretold of her illness. But the Empress was fantastically proud and never admitted her mistakes. Stubbornly, she refused to try on the shoes, ever. 5. The Empress Wears the New Shoes Now, the Doctor feared the death of the Empress so tremendously that he could no longer stand to follow her orders. He ran to fetch the shoes of immortality. Through dust storms the doctor traveled as fast as he could go, all the way to the Artists’ shed. And lo and behold, the cat with the spherical head was there, sitting on top of the locked metal case! With the help of townspeople, the Doctor procured fresh goat milk to feed the cat and himself. Then with the golden shoe case under his arm, he hurried back to the Imperial Palace. Returning to the Empress’s private quarters, the Doctor collapsed with exhaustion at the foot of her bed. Trembling, he unlocked the metal box and pried open the heavy doors. As the doors opened, the Empress gasped. A strong breath of fresh mountain air rushed through her body, causing her eyes to open wide. She could see again! Blood surged through her veins, giving her skin an instant ruddy glow. At once she knew she had been foolish for refusing to respect what the Artists told her about her health. She understood the real importance and truth behind the shoes of immortality. With renewed vigor, she ordered the shoes to be placed on her feet.