An organic-shaped lounge suite, coffee table stacked with books and magazines, espresso machine and a screen showing cycling races all over the world add an unusual air of domesticity to MAAP’s refurbished store in Collingwood.
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suite → stack → Collingwood
The cycling apparel brand, which opened its first store a couple of years ago, now has 10 stores worldwide, including in Berlin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles and, most recently, London.
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which → open → Berlin
Part of MAAP’s aesthetic, beyond its fashion and accessory collections, is to create a meeting place for cyclists to gather on their bikes first thing in the morning for a peloton ride through Melbourne’s streets before returning for a coffee.
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cyclists → create → coffee
The brand’s founders have a fashion and graphic design background.
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founders → have → background
Their refurbished store was designed by Clare Cousins Architects, a practice often synonymous with bespoke housing.
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store → refurbish → housing
It’s a long way from being a prosaic cycling shop with a few clothes displayed on racks.
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It → ’ → racks
“This space is geared to the cyclist,” says Oliver Duff, director of architecture at the practice.
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Duff → gear → practice
“It was also an appropriate location for the first bricks and mortar store,” says Duff, pointing out the bike path along Wellington Street.
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Duff → say → Street
The architects inherited a 170-square-metre shell, with 4.5-metre-high walls and concrete ceilings and floors.
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architects → inherit → walls
It now features a new stainless-steel layer.
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It → feature → layer
Perforated steel panels add a robust feel to the store, as does the industrial-style lighting that straddles the exposed ceilings with its pipes and services.
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that → add → pipes
“Given it’s a place for the community of cyclists to meet, we also wanted to introduce a softer, more domestic feel to the store,” says Duff, referring to the lounge suite and coffee table.
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Duff → give → suite
The Italian coffee machine, perched on a concrete bench, also adds a level of domesticity.
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machine → perch → domesticity
Trolley-like units, powder-coated in olive green, also allow the space to be flexible; with up to 25 cyclists arriving in the morning, there is a need for a large entrance/arrival point.
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cyclists → coat → point
MAAP’s other stores have their own individual splashes of colour: pink and orange in Hong Kong and Yves Klein blue in Taipei.
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stores → have → Taipei
And unlike most stores connected to cycling, here the approach is more akin to a boutique, with a bicycle attached to one wall treated more like a piece of sculpture.
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bicycle → connect → sculpture
“We wanted to save most of the colour for the clothing, whether it’s bikewear or streetwear,” says Duff, who points out that the fashion is all designed in-house and exported to the 10 shops worldwide.
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fashion → want → shops
Steel walls against concrete aren’t too challenging for most architects to create but Clare Cousins Architects was keen to stretch the genre; hence, some walls are concertinaed while others at the rear of the store have a greater sense of plasticity, celebrating curves and responding to the need to create a more tactile environment.
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others → create → environment
Cyclists visiting MAAP will certainly be impressed by the store’s aesthetic as much as its performance.
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Cyclists → visit → performance
You don’t have to settle for a grungy environment just because you are a keen cyclist, and for enthusiasts, it brings the community together in a bespoke space that suits their sport.
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that → have → sport
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newsletter → deliver → stories
The Aporia
