— NZIA Local Award 2024 / Auckland / Finalist
The brief was to create a new image for The Diamond Shop coinciding with their move to a fresh location on Ponsonby Road. The exercise was to create contrast between the rough and brutal monochromatic base build with the finesse, beauty and delicacy of the fine jewellery it would house. The ideas are polarisation and contrast.
The plan was carefully zoned, creating separation between public and private, but with controlled views into the respective other. On the streetside sits the shop, the retail, and a glassed-box office. Portholes on the back wall further connect customers to the activity in the ‘private’ spaces, with views both into the jewellers workstations from the shop, and out from the private administration towards the retail activity. Further, there is porthole engagement from the retail space through to the wider building and internal street.
The palette of the fit out is set within the rawness of the structure in precast and in situ concrete, exposed structure, and servicing – raw and elemental. The Diamond Shop injection is comprised of materiality that suggests a lightness and delicacy in contrast. The colours of the base build are black, white and monochromatic concrete contrasting the sparkle of the jewellery. The brass-accented custom display cases and decorative elements within serve to create a liveliness.
Photography by David Straight
