EMPORIO ARMANI HONG KONG

Is the trendy spirit that currently unites the most famed fashion houses with the most renowned architects (e.g. Herzog & de Meuron for Prada, Koolhaas for Prada, Piano for Herm s, Aoki for Vuitton) the same as that which unites so many of the world's modern and contemporary museums with similar geniuses of the built structure (e.g. Gehry for Guggenheim, Calatrava for Milwaukee Art Museum, Hadid for CCA Cincinnati)? While this book does not aim to answer that question, it does examine an important new example of the former: Massimiliano Fuksas and Doriana Mandrelli's design for the new Emporio Armani flagship store in Hong Kong. This Emporio refuses any form of traditional architectural formalism. It is attentive to "empty" spaces, inspired by movement, by the invisible traces of visitors, by their casual movements. Gone are any references to classical geometry; mobility and the possibility of space variation take their place.