{"id":2483,"date":"2015-12-22T13:08:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T13:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/?p=2483"},"modified":"2025-09-05T14:54:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T14:54:28","slug":"logo-inspired-sculptural-sunscreen-takes-corporate-branding-to-new-level-with-alucobond-natural-acm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/logo-inspired-sculptural-sunscreen-takes-corporate-branding-to-new-level-with-alucobond-natural-acm\/","title":{"rendered":"Logo-Inspired Sculptural Sunscreen Takes Corporate Branding To New Level With ALUCOBOND NaturAL ACM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sephora<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Project Name:<\/th>\nSephora Robson Street<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Project Location:<\/th>\nVancouver, British Columbia, Canada<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ALUCOBOND\u00ae Materials:<\/th>\nALUCOBOND\u00ae PE naturAL Brushed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Architect:<\/th>\nFrancl Architecture<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fabricator:<\/th>\nKeith Panel Systems Co. Ltd.<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
General Contractor:<\/th>\nMarcon Construction Ltd., of Langley, British Columbia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photography:<\/th>\nDaniel Lunghi Photography<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Beauty authority Sephora is internationally recognized for its unique retail concept, which combines an extensive array of top-of-the-line beauty and cosmetic products, sales consultant expertise and distinctive store design. While all stores utilize Sephora\u2019s bold black-and-white color scheme, each store features unique design elements with many incorporating Sephora\u2019s iconic \u201cS\u201d-shaped flame logo in store d\u00e9cor and signage.<\/p>\n

The new Sephora Robson Street retail store \u2013 which opened in late-October 2014 in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada \u2013 not only included Sephora\u2019s logo as part of its storefront d\u00e9cor but took corporate branding to a new level in the form of a custom two-sided dimensional sunscreen that captures the \u201cS\u201d-shaped flame in its negative space.<\/p>\n

This unique sculptural element \u2013 which was installed across the location\u2019s 480-square-foot second-story glass storefront \u2013 was formed with 1,000 square feet of 4mm ALUCOBOND\u00ae naturAL aluminum composite material (ACM) in the Brushed finish.<\/p>\n

\"Sephora<\/p>\n

When Sephora announced that it would be opening a retail store in the trendy Robson Street shopping district, anticipation by local shopping aficionados could not have been higher. The new 9,900 square-foot retail location \u2013 featuring a 7,650 square-foot main level plus a 2,250 square-foot mezzanine \u2013 would be Sephora\u2019s largest store in Canada.<\/p>\n

French-based Sephora \u2013 which was founded in Paris in 1970 \u2013 operates approximately 1,900 stores in 29 countries worldwide, with an expanding base of more than 360 stores across North America. Sephora opened its first North American store in New York in 1998 and its first Canadian store in Toronto in 2004.<\/p>\n

\"Sephora<\/p>\n

Francl Architecture<\/a>, of Vancouver, British Columbia, was hired by building owner West Coast Projects Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, to collaborate with Sephora corporate designers working under the direction of Jason Arth, LEED AP, ID+C, senior director of store design and based at Sephora\u2019s North American headquarters in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Sephora provided early design elevations of a typical store as well as required store elements \u2013 including the installation of a black-and-white pole design on the storefront, according to Scott C. Mitchell, Architect AIBC B.Arch BFA, senior associate, Francl Architecture, whose team incorporated those specifications as well as requirements for a two-story store design by West Coast Projects Ltd. \u201cThe building owner wanted to create a very dramatic double-height space,\u201d said Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\"Sephora<\/p>\n

The second-story mezzanine would increase retail space and serve as home to the world\u2019s first VIB Rouge studio \u2013 which provides beauty services to high-level Sephora rewards program members. The inclusion of the double-height storefront, however, would require that store cosmetics be protected from the sun\u2019s rays entering the southern-facing location.<\/p>\n

While Sephora\u2019s architects originally thought to cover the second-story storefront with a massive TV screen, Francl Architecture was hesitant to present the idea to the City of Vancouver because it had been reluctant to approve this type of multi-media d\u00e9cor, according to Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got behind the idea of a sculptural d\u00e9cor element,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cIts purpose would be to allow light into the store in an interesting way while minimizing cosmetics\u2019 exposure to solar radiation. \u2026 Our initial design concept for the storefront included a large illuminated Sephora \u2018S\u2019 in black granite. We decided to also try to incorporate the Sephora \u2018S\u2019 in the sculptural screen. When we presented the idea to Sephora, they were excited as well as concerned because it was quite a geometry exercise. If we adjusted the height by a foot or the width by an inch, it had major repercussions. \u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sephora<\/p>\n

Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd.<\/a>, of North Vancouver, British Columbia, began meeting with the architects in early 2013 to discuss design and engineering of the sculptural element. Marcon Construction Ltd., of Langley, British Columbia, served as general contractor for the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a very unique project,\u201d said Carlo Gatti, business development manager, Keith Panel Systems (KPS). \u201cThis sunshade screen installed over the storefront window had the true intention of serving as an artistic piece representative of Sephora\u2019s corporate image with the negative space creating an \u2018S\u2019. \u2026 We suggested creating this decorative element with ALUCOBOND\u00ae because we\u2019ve had good success in manipulating this product in unique ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALUCOBOND\u00ae naturAL in the Brushed finish was selected for the Sephora sculptural element for \u201cthe qualities it offers in reflecting ambient light conditions,\u201d according to Gatti.<\/p>\n

\"Sephora<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve used ALUCOBOND\u00ae a lot,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cIt\u2019s a default product because it does everything well. We selected ALUCOBOND\u00ae in the light-silver brushed finish because it contrasted well with the black granite on the storefront. We also needed a product that would complement the stainless-steel canopy and street-level glazing mullions.\u201d<\/p>\n

KPS created a series of four mockups for the decorative element, which appears to be a continuous sculpture but actually consists of 32 unique double-sided Sephora flame elements \u2013 each measuring approximately 10 feet high by 1.5 feet wide. The Sephora flame elements are ganged together in 10 groups of three and one group of two and are specially engineered so that they may be opened for storefront glass cleaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to achieve an accurate representation of the Sephora logo,\u201d said Gatti. \u201cThe flame elements had to be aligned perfectly so that every negative space formed the \u2018S\u2019-shaped logo properly. The flame elements would have been easy to produce if we just had to cut the scallops and they remained flat, but they required special routing and manipulation to create the sculpted volumes. They almost look like air foils that are wide in the middle and tapered to the ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sephora<\/p>\n

During a period of 1.5 years, KPS worked on design, engineering and mockup of the sculptural element and spent approximately 1.5 months on its fabrication and installation, which was completed in early October 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project required very intensive labor in our shop, including a trial-and-error process to determine the best way to rout and manipulate the ALUCOBOND\u00ae to create volume,\u201d said Gatti. \u201cKPS likes being challenged. We knew that if we were going to be able to create this sculptural element that ALUCOBOND\u00ae was the only material that would work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very happy with how this sculptural sunscreen turned out,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cIt\u2019s been very well-received. It\u2019s a great feature of the Sephora Robson Street store.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photography \u00a9 Daniel Lunghi Photography<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Project Name: Sephora Robson Street Project Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada ALUCOBOND\u00ae Materials: ALUCOBOND\u00ae PE naturAL Brushed Architect: Francl Architecture Fabricator: Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd. General Contractor: Marcon Construction Ltd., of Langley, British Columbia Photography: Daniel Lunghi Photography Beauty authority Sephora is internationally recognized for its unique retail concept, which combines an extensive array […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,39,221,37,205,28,29,169,121,124,96,162,85],"class_list":["post-2483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-case-studies","tag-acm","tag-acp","tag-alucobond-natural","tag-aluminum-composite-material","tag-aluminum-composite-panels","tag-architecture","tag-design","tag-exterior-design","tag-facade","tag-interior","tag-metal","tag-natural-brushed","tag-retail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2483"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7477,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483\/revisions\/7477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alucobondusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}