design:retail - June 2018 - 22

022

"RH West Palm is an 80,000-sq.-ft.
architectural masterpiece that is an
integration of food, wine, art and design,
and reflects our quest to revolutionize
physical retailing."
-GARY FRIEDMAN, RH

↗ Opposite page:
[Top] Design inspiration came from Palm
Beach's historic
estates and Worth
Avenue, with a touch
of Miami's edginess.
→ [Bottom left] Guests
can sip an espresso
and grab a pastry
at the fourth-floor
Barista Bar.
→ [Bottom right] RH
West Palm's third
floor houses RH
Baby & Child.

JUNE 2018

gallery-that's the terminology high-end home furnishing purveyor RH, Restoration Hardware uses for
its large-scale flagships. One of the latest galleries to
join their fleet (debuting late-November 2017) is RH
West Palm, The Gallery at CityPlace (RH West Palm
for short), which serves as both a gathering space
and a home design showroom. "RH West Palm
is an 80,000-sq.-ft. architectural masterpiece
that is an integration of food, wine, art and design, and reflects our quest to revolutionize
physical retailing," says RH Chairman and
CEO Gary Friedman.
Designed as immersive experiences, these galleries are helping RH re-emerge as a lifestyle brand after dancing close to
bankruptcy the past few years. The company operates a total of
84 retail galleries and 31 outlet stores, in addition to 15 Waterworks showrooms. Including RH West Palm, there are 10 galleries
at this size and scale, three of which (Chicago, Toronto and West
Palm Beach) have restaurants.
As a way to encourage customers to linger around products in
an organic way, RH West Palm blurs the lines between residential
and retail, and home and hospitality, by featuring interiors that
are curated to have a residential feel and by allowing customers
to wander the store with a glass of wine in-hand purchased from
the rooftop restaurant. Ultimately, it's a tactic to combat the rise
in e-commerce, but for the customer, it means having a place to
congregate with friends and family.
To create a desirable hangout space, Friedman teamed up with
James Gillam of Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects, an architectural design firm with offices in California's Sausalito and
St. Helena. Architectural inspiration came from Palm Beach's
historic oceanfront estates and glamorous Worth Avenue, and
Miami's edgy vibe and spirit of Art Basel. "To me, Palm Beach
has always been about a sense of glamour and luxury, a place
everyone aspires to be a part of, like the Hamptons, Aspen,
Beverly Hills or Napa Valley," Friedman says. "We're all intrigued
to know what's behind the majestic gates or lush green hedges

DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

GLOBALSHOP.ORG

that surround the beautiful estates. Our Gallery on Okeechobee
[Boulevard in West Palm Beach] was built to retail that sense
of allure, to spark our imagination while being inspired by the
glamour of the past and the innovative spirit of the present."
The design team decided on two entrances, both with equal
dosages of "cool factor." On the east side, the façade features a
dramatic public art mural by contemporary artist RETNA, an
18-ft.-wide-by-14-ft.-tall wall of cascading water inspired by
the fountain in New York City's Paley Park and the valet station.
Guests who valet enter the central hall through a barrel-vaulted
passageway. Foot traffic from the nearby downtown area enters
through the west entrance and encounters an elliptical fountain inspired by Villa d'Este in Tivoli, Italy, and 20-ft. steel gates
inspired by the 20th-century Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa.
Customers then step into 10,000 sq. ft. of private estate gardens,
complemented by RH's outdoor furnishings, and follow a linear
pathway of monolithic bluestone slabs embedded in decomposed granite to the first level.
At RH West Palm, each level is dedicated to one or more of RH's
branches: RH Interiors, Modern, Outdoor, Baby & Child, Teen,
Interior Design and Hospitality. Everything is housed beneath
14-ft. ceilings. A gray concrete floor and white walls provide a
neutral palette complementary to RH products, beginning with
the lighting fixtures, which are all by RH.
From the floor layout to the architectural elements, walking through the space feels personal, like exploring someone's
tasteful home. The second level includes four expansive terraces
with crystal and iron chandeliers, gorgeous sculptured foliage
and metal trellises accented with jasmine Pandorea vines. The
third floor's aesthetic is minimalist and blends the RH Modern
collections with the RH Baby & Child and RH Teen lines. These
latter spaces are fused by a rhythmic progression of glass and steel
French doors with corresponding Juliet balconies that line the
perimeter of the floor.
Every level boasts natural light, washing in from the skylight
on the top floor. The floors are seamlessly connected with a grand
double floating staircase (spanning nearly 40 ft.) that features

http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - June 2018