Notre

A concept store and event space for Notre in the West Loop of Chicago with Norman Kelley, where a double facade extends the street inward, completed in 2018

Notre is a place to shop, browse, muse, read, rest, and discover. The store creates discrete worlds within an existing masonry building. The first entrance from the street opens to a raw, tiered space for gathering and performance. Exposed wooden beams and brick walls, steps and ramps extend the exterior streetscape inward. Set two bays inside, a double facade mimics the building fenestration. This second entrance defines a contrasting, immaterial white box. Thresholds layer as the enfilade reveals and conceals the depth of the store. A sequence of rooms unfold into hidden niches and corridors. The project is published in several media, including Metropolis magazine, Dezeen and Designboom, and the design collaboration is expanded on in an interview with Notre.

Image Credit: Christopher Leh, Abigail Chang

Contributors: Thomas Kelley, Carrie Norman, Benjamin Gott, Abigail Chang, Isabelle Redford