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MAAP has opened a refurbished cycling store in Collingwood, designed by Clare Cousins Architects, with 10 stores worldwide including Berlin, Singapore, and London.
MAAP, the cycling apparel brand, has opened a refurbished store in Collingwood, Melbourne, designed by Clare Cousins Architects. The store, which opened a couple of years after the brand's first store, is part of a global network of 10 stores worldwide, including locations in Berlin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and most recently London. The Collingwood store, located along Wellington Street with its bike path, serves as a meeting place for cyclists to gather for morning peloton rides through Melbourne's streets before returning for coffee.
Design and Atmosphere of the MAAP Store
The store features an organic-shaped lounge suite, a coffee table stacked with books and magazines, an espresso machine, and a screen showing cycling races from around the world, adding an unusual air of domesticity. The architects inherited a 170-square-metre shell with 4.5-metre-high walls and concrete ceilings and floors. They added a new stainless-steel layer, with perforated steel panels and industrial-style lighting that straddles the exposed ceilings with its pipes and services.
Some walls are concertinaed, while others at the rear have a greater sense of plasticity, celebrating curves. The colour palette includes soft powder blue for the shelving, originally scaffolding, and change rooms' curtains, together with olive green for some of the joinery. Trolley-like units, powder-coated in olive green, allow the space to be flexible, with up to 25 cyclists arriving in the morning requiring a large entrance and arrival point.
Global Reach and Unique Store Designs
MAAP's other stores have their own individual splashes of colour: pink and orange in Hong Kong and Yves Klein blue in Taipei. Unlike most cycling stores, the approach is more akin to a boutique, with a bicycle attached to one wall treated more like a piece of sculpture. The fashion is all designed in-house and exported to the 10 shops worldwide.
Oliver Duff, director of architecture at Clare Cousins Architects, says the space is geared to the cyclist and that it was an appropriate location for the first bricks and mortar store, pointing out the bike path along Wellington Street. He adds that given it is a place for the community of cyclists to meet, they wanted to introduce a softer, more domestic feel to the store, referring to the lounge suite and coffee table. The Italian coffee machine, perched on a concrete bench, also adds a level of domesticity.
Background and Context
Clare Cousins Architects, a practice often synonymous with bespoke housing, was keen to stretch the genre with this project. Steel walls against concrete are not too challenging for most architects, but the firm created a more tactile environment by incorporating concertinaed walls and curves. The brand's founders have a fashion and graphic design background, which influences the store's aesthetic beyond its fashion and accessory collections.
Cyclists visiting MAAP will be impressed by the store's aesthetic as much as its performance. The store brings the community together in a bespoke space that suits their sport, proving that you do not have to settle for a grungy environment just because you are a keen cyclist. With 10 stores worldwide, MAAP continues to expand its presence, with the Collingwood store serving as a flagship for the brand's design philosophy.
MAAP Collingwood Clare Cousins Architects Cycling Apparel Melbourne Global Stores Oliver Duff
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