vivienne westwood shop proposed refit - davies st, london

The idea was that the shop should have a physical effect on the customer. 

 

The original shop blind was to be fitted with rain bars under the fabric and every hour on the hour artificial rain would deluge the shopper. This was possible because the Westwood shop owned the vaults under the pavement, so the water could be filtered and recirculated. 

 

The ground floor was to become an anechoic chamber, created by the use of sound absorbing cones. It would be so quite the customer could hear their own heart beat.  The basement, the wedding dress department, would be the opposite, it would be acoustically very live, all surfaces would be hard and reflective, the floor would be resin and the walls and ceilings lined with the tops of old catering size baked bean tins.