World Architecture Festival 2009, Shopping Winner : Havaianas Shop, Brazil by Isay Weinfeld

Products/Design Ideas on Architecture

The Havaianas store in São Paulo, Brazil, has won the World’s Best Shopping Building award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards (WAF Awards) 2009.

The iconic brand’s first dedicated store in Brazil mirrors the laid back approach of the flip flop manufacturer; a simple box design and oversized red logo form the shell of the building.

The Havainas Shop is the Havaianas Sandals first store in Brazil. Havaianas Sandals itself, created in 1962, drew their inspiration from the “zori”, traditional Japanese slippers made of rice straw.

Designed by architect Isay Weinfeld, the main architectural concept of the Havainas Shop are comfort, freshness, casualness, ease, well-being, and brazilianness. It also mean to respond the street culture of a dense urban area.

It is a bold building indicating a determined dedication to the contributions of Brazil to the Modern Movement. The shop has a significant urban existence- it connects two sides of the street with an elegant and accessible cover. This cover also has an opening to the sky letting in the light and rain, so that the shop has a micro climate of its own.

It welcomes regular citizens for daily shopping for very simple footwear. Therefore it is popular and becomes a significant part of the urban tissue. Its elegance and simplicity are commendable.

images : courtesy of Nelson Kon via Isay Weinfeld.

Modern Interior Design Havaianas Shop