Peek & Cloppenburg

In 1901 James Cloppenburg opened the first store in Berlin and was the first to introduce a unitary size-system in men’s clothing. Over the years P&C became an international brand with fashion department stores in several countries. Today it is host to ca. 400 fashion labels, from exquisite to trendy.

Since having set up a store in Frankfurt a.M. in 1988, the company puts high value on cosmopolitan architecture to represent elegance and generosity. To set these architectural highlights Peek&Cloppenburg invited the international elite of modern architecture to design 21^st century buildings. The company sees architecture as an investment and a way to communicate its philosophy. A store should become a place to meet, hang out, enjoy yourself or simply a place of interest: Cafés inside the stores as well as having a DJ come every week to entertain the youth in the boutique department represent such idea.

All architects successfully created an atmosphere for high fashion by allowing daylight to lighten up the stores and using clear lines and natural materials:

Going back to the year 1988, it was the union of Rhodo, Kellermann and Wawrowsky, who constructed the 5-level store with a sales floor of 16.900m^2.The building clearly reflects the 80s even though no architect would want to admit that his building is not as timeless as he claims it to be. During that epoch gold was the favorite spot color of fashion and also the store employed shiny golden polished door and window frames made out of brass.

Next, we have Prof. Gottfried Böhm, the architect of the Berlin store, opening up his work in 1995. This time a sales floor of 15.200m²is spread over 6 levels. The building’s façade reminds us of a flared skirt with its top tightly nested while when moving downwards it slowly falls apart until its lower edge forms a glass roofing covering the sidewalk.

New Yorker architect Richard Meier had a huge curved shop window in mind when designing the Düsseldorf store: “Incidence of light is the most important feature”. Also the huge white frame underlines the shop window idea since “white is the color of light”. The 14.200m² store with its 6 levels opened up in 2001 celebrating the company’s 100^th anniversary.

In 2005 a store of similar size (14.200m²) added on to Cologne’s cityscape. Called “the true flagship”, the Italian architect Renzo Piano created an elegant glass building which sets itself apart from the usual cement-based architecture of the city center. The glass dress consists of 6800 single panels and again the curved shape is a major characteristic of this store.

Just recently this year yet another P&C store opened in the exclusive location of Vienna, where London architect David Chipperfield set up a bare looking building made of bright “Donaukalk” with a massive façade. 185 over dimensional windows allow a view onto the historic center from the inside of the store.

We can conclude that Peek&Cloppenburg truly managed to employ cosmopolitan architecture as form of communication for its fashion.