This week marks a month since Louis Vuitton opened their new store and café concept in London’s Heathrow Terminal 2. The luxury brand has more than 20 hospitality concepts across the world with restaurants, cafés, chocolate shops and airport lounges, but this is a stunning first for the UK.
Building Design and Management (BDM) previously designed the shell and core of the unit, ensuring that the retail space met specific airport criteria for retail space standards. To ensure accurate details were provided as a basis for the design, LV engaged BDM to verify dimensional details and develop a 3D model of the retail space.
David Cooke, BDM founder said: ‘‘Our knowledge of the airport, the retail space, and the procedures enabled us to react quickly, manage the procedures rapidly, and provide the level of accuracy of a built building required for a complex design.’’
The store takes a futuristic style with a dome-shaped exterior in shades of blue and white, while the interior has hints of red, yellow, blue and white as a nod to the theme of travel. Dubbed ‘not your typical airport coffee shop’ visitors will notice the futuristic-styled design of white, curved walls, colourful mobiles hanging from the ceiling, and rust-coloured banquettes.
On the evolution of luxury spaces David added:
‘‘The luxury retail industry constantly evolves and adapts to customers’ changing needs and expectations. In 2024, some of the top luxury retail trends shaping the industry are personalisation, sustainability, brand storytelling, digitalisation, experiential retail, and limited editions and collaborations.’’
With Heathrow Airport’s projected traffic forecasts increased to 83.3 million this year, the Café provides the traveling passenger an opportunity to experience the unique designs of the world, combining innovation with style.
The attainment and use of digital twins is on the rise, and essential for many crucial purposes such as accuracy, efficiency, safety and compliance.
With retail spaces becoming more complex and dynamic, the 3D world of digital twins—specifically, photorealistic digital twins—has a vital role. By adopting 3D technology, you can accelerate store planning cycles, identify and fix problems before and during buildout, and efficiently create engaging in-store experiences.
The newly opened Le café Louis Vuitton collaboration with chef Cyril Lignac along with its new store, was designed by Marc Fornes, founder of the art and architecture studio Theverymany in New York, providing shopping and table service with a ‘special Louis Vuitton Touch’ which includes glasses and leather table mats from the brand’s Art de la Table range. The space is conveniently located so as to be accessible to both domestic and international travellers.
BDM have been the digital twin go-to experts for several luxury brands over the years such as Mulberry, Cartier, Harrods, Dior and Bvlgari.
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