WRSTBHVR Flagship Store, Berlin, Germany

As architects Philipp and Simon Sinopoli of Cabal Studios explain, the colour palette remains deliberately subdued:

The clothing on display, with its own strong colours and expressive character, becomes the most vibrant element in the store. The interior provides a calm, high-quality backdrop that appears understated at first glance, but reveals its quality through detail, materiality and tactility.

Rather than being created through colour or bold gestures, the spatial tension emerges from surfaces, textures and the interplay between different materials.

Concrete plays a particularly important role in this concept. Large-format concrete elements structure the retail space and form distinctive, almost monolithic volumes. Their pronounced texture creates a deliberate contrast with the smooth, precisely finished metal surfaces.

The concrete elements were created using the RECKLI 1/41 B Ibiza formliner. Its vertical ribbed structure with a medium-coarse fractured texture produces a clearly defined relief, providing a striking tactile counterpoint to the smooth surfaces of the blackened steel and stainless steel.

The front sections of the ribs were additionally treated with the RECKLI CR Type N concrete surface retarder. The product enables controlled, fine exposure of the concrete surface. Subsequent washing partially reveals the aggregate.

Cabal Studios sums up the underlying design principle of contrast:

Smooth, precisely finished elements in blackened steel and stainless steel meet custom-made ribbed concrete panels with a distinctly rougher, mineral surface. The metals appear clean, precise and technical, while the concrete gains a raw material presence through its grain, depth and irregularity.

The concrete elements were produced by Austrian company PURAcrete, which specialises in high-quality exposed concrete surfaces as well as bespoke formwork and concrete solutions.