Period look for Benetton flagship store

Interiors firm Douglas Lusardi Metcalfe is designing Benetton’s 2.5m flagship store at London’s Oxford Circus. It will be the biggest Benetton in the world.

And Andrew Douglas, partner at the London consultancy, reveals that Benetton is planning another “huge” store in New York, possibly designed by a US group.

The consultancy is working in tandem with London’s Geoffrey Reid Architects and Italian architect Tobia Scarpa. The store will be unveiled on 18 September.

Douglas Lusardi Metcalfe was recommended to Benetton by the architects, initially because partner Renato Lusardi speaks Italian, according to Douglas.

The store will have four floors, including office space, and will cover 2500m2. “As the building was designed in 1912, we tried to design the shopfronts to look in period,” explains Douglas.

The British architects and designers have incorporated Italian marble floors, a steel and maple staircase designed by Scarpa, glass-sided elevators, moulded ceilings and Venetian chandeliers.