On the occasion of Salone del Mobile, we made a temporary architecture for the entrance of Zara’s flagship store in Milan. Popping up in the historic, listed Art Deco building, we created a standalone space for the brand’s future within its past: a pared-back structure that provides a transient physical form to its Sustainability Innovation Hub.

Zara’s SIH is dedicated to supporting start-ups that are reimagining the future of fashion and its supply chain through a variety of different innovations. Using this zero-waste vision as a design blueprint, the structure itself is constructed from sustainable fabric that will be fully recycled after use.

With no interventions to the existing building and using very little custom-built architecture, the pop-up we created embraces its temporary nature to be in dialogue with the space it lives in. The construction, fashioned out of semi-sheer material, transforms the entrance of the store without hiding it: the new Zara is being built from within, in coexistence with the brand’s heritage.

Using transparency as a storytelling tool, the space unfolds over two zones into an accessible journey through the many projects, people and possibilities that make up the SIH. Working with a gradient of warm reds, the structure is designed to feel inviting and animated, in opposition to the sterile tones often used to represent the future. An atmospheric multimedia scenography of light, sound and image weaves together the different threads of the initiative, opening with pulsing lights that beckon visitors into a hallway that introduces some of the faces supported by the SIH through video content.

In the central area, visitors are fully immersed in a curated selection of six different innovations. A spotlight guides the experience through each specific story to explore the process and outcomes of these different collaborations. 

The experience is geared to speak to and inspire a wide audience. From consumers who are entering the store to shop to industry professionals visiting the Salone del Mobile to Zara employees, the pop-up gives a coherent form to a lot of content that has been in development behind-the-scenes at the brand, both raising awareness about this important work and spreading its vision to other influential actors in the realm of fashion.

Team Random Studio:

Finnan Barry, Dominique Rokebrand, Cosima Antione, Kimberley ter Heerdt, Morgan Maccari, Romain Albers, Lukas Valiauga, Steve Buchanan, Jurian Strik, Rachael Short