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MAAP has opened a refurbished cycling store in Collingwood, designed by Clare Cousins Architects, featuring a domestic feel and serving as a community hub for cyclists.
MAAP, the cycling apparel brand, has refurbished its store in Collingwood, Melbourne, creating a space that blends domestic comfort with industrial design. The store, designed by Clare Cousins Architects, opened its doors recently and is part of MAAP's global network of 10 stores worldwide.
MAAP's Global Presence and Local Roots
MAAP opened its first store a couple of years ago and now has 10 stores worldwide. These include locations in Berlin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles, and most recently, London. The brand's founders come from a fashion and graphic design background, which influences the aesthetic of their stores.
The Collingwood store is situated along Wellington Street, near a bike path, making it an ideal location for cyclists. It serves as a meeting place for cyclists who gather in the morning for a peloton ride through Melbourne's streets before returning for a coffee.
Design Features of the Collingwood Store
The store was designed by Clare Cousins Architects, a practice often associated with bespoke housing. 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 adding a robust feel. Industrial-style lighting straddles the exposed ceilings with its pipes and services.
Oliver Duff, director of architecture at the practice, said the space is geared to the cyclist. He noted that it was an appropriate location for the first bricks and mortar store, pointing out the bike path along Wellington Street. The design includes some concertinaed walls, while others at the rear have a greater sense of plasticity, celebrating curves.
To introduce a softer, more domestic feel, 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 all over the world. The Italian coffee machine is perched on a concrete bench. 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.
Flexible Space and Community Focus
Trolley-like units, powder-coated in olive green, allow the space to be flexible. With up to 25 cyclists arriving in the morning, there is a need for a large entrance and arrival point. Unlike most cycling stores, the approach here is more akin to a boutique, with a bicycle attached to one wall treated more like a piece of sculpture.
Duff said they wanted to save most of the colour for the clothing, whether it is bikewear or streetwear. The fashion is all designed in-house and exported to the 10 shops worldwide. MAAP's other stores have their own individual splashes of colour: pink and orange in Hong Kong and Yves Klein blue in Taipei.
The Collingwood store's design stretches the genre of steel walls against concrete. Some walls are concertinaed, while others at the rear celebrate curves and respond to the need to create a more tactile environment. Cyclists visiting MAAP will be impressed by the store's aesthetic as much as its performance. It brings the community together in a bespoke space that suits their sport, proving that you don't have to settle for a grungy environment just because you are a keen cyclist.
MAAP Collingwood Clare Cousins Architects Cycling Store Melbourne Oliver Duff Retail Design
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