25$ 53

250$

1$ 31

76$ 33

0$ 20

Calculating the unit price of one cubic inch of each of the given products is an arbitrary but hy-per-rational method to quantify and compare the five. Based on the unit price, the spectrum of relative “luxuriousness” or “economic-exclusivity” of the product field can be determined.

Luxury at the brink

The Givens: A column grid on Boston’s Tremont street (across from Boston Public Gardens) and a brief. The Brief: A small department store, to be located within the column grid, with a theme. The Theme: The five senses. Each luxury brand within the department store corresponds to one of the senses. To touch: Lucian Pellat-Finet cashmere sweaters, To taste: Terrior Coffee, to see: Zeiss camera lenses, to smell: CB I Hate Perfume, and to hear: Other Music compact discs.

Concurrent economic happenings during the project period: 3 October: TARP bailout becomes law; 30 October: the economy officially in recession; 19 November: the DOW drops below 8,000 points. The student-architect doesn’t need to dig deep to have a cynical disposition towards the luxury department store brief and theme.

Zeiss Lenses

Terrior Coffee

CB I Hate Perfume

Other Music

Lucian Pellat-Finet

1 Zeiss lens

3 LPF sweaters

10 vials from CB I Hate Perfume

166 CDs from Other Music

2,225 lbs of Terrior coffee

Cost per cubic inch for five discordant products:

How much of each product could I get for the price of:

Andrew Liebchen M.ARCH 2009, critic: Jeffery Katz

$$$$$$$$$$$$

Or, since these higher sales numbers are due in part to the decreased convenience of the upper floors, should the most popular (least expensive) product be on the lower level?

Both options are too non-specific to work as a parti. Solution: dedicate the whole lower level to populist capital-ist pursuits (drinking coffee and buy-ing music) and leave the high cost and higher elevation of the luxury goods to divide the common pool of consumers. Each brand is given a space in the col-umn gird, formed by partially enclos-ing cells of the grid with architectural surfaces. These enclosures or vignettes create an enclosed, floating, up-side-down world of luxurious delusion; while the grounded levels embrace all people.

In a standard retail model, the first floor sells to most product. Does this demand the most ex-pensive product be on the lower level?

Andrew Liebchen M.ARCH 2009, critic: Jeffery Katz

Key:1.) Tremont Street2.) Other Music3.) CB I Hate Perfume4.) Rooftop terrace5.) Administrative offices6.) Fire stair7.) Lucian Pellat-Finet8.) Zeiss Lenses9.) Delivery truck10.) Terrior Coffee11.) Glass elevator12.) Christopher Brosius’s office1

9

5

3

4

2

8 5

12

211

109

7 8

6

6

11

5

4

Andrew Liebchen

Andrew Liebchen M.ARCH 2009, critic: Jeffery Katz

Zeiss Lenses

Lucian Pellat-Finet

CB I Hate Perfume

Other Music and Terrior Coffee

Andrew Liebchen M.ARCH 2009, critic: Jeffery Katz

CB I Hate Perfume, Lucian Pellat-Finet

Terrior Coffee

right

below

Andrew Liebchen

Andrew Liebchen M.ARCH 2009, critic: Jeffery Katz

Sectional model: 1/4” = 1’-0”

Andrew Liebchen M.ARCH 2009, critic: Jeffery Katz