Retail Design Institute
Mar 283 min
Updated: May 9
El Palacio de Hierro Coyoacán, Coyoacán
Category: Department Store
Submitted by: TPG Architecture
Photography: Paúl Rivera, Salt Lake City, Utah
El Palacio de Hierro is an upscale chain of department stores, offering high-end lifestyle destinations for shopping and dining around Latin America. The NYC-based design firm has designed numerous flagship locations for the brand, each highly customized to its locale, and was engaged once again to create a 410,000-square-foot immersive experience at the Mítikah mixed-use complex in the Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City.
(Photography by Paúl Rivera, Salt Lake City, Utah)
Featuring over 30 custom design concepts, the design team’s scheme spans five stories of retail, entertainment, and dining space––serving as the centerpiece for the attached 300-store mall. Paying homage to Coyoacán as a cultural epicenter of Mexico, the firm’s design celebrates with an unparalleled richness the creative legacy of the historic town. Recalling the long list of creatives that have called Coyoacán home, including Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, the store's theme is rooted in its sense of place and time, respecting local traditions and techniques with fresh mediums and innovative materials. Department by department, each space is more captivating than the last, hallmarked by an entirely bespoke theme in service to a brilliant merchandise assortment. The resulting, vibrant, and immersive experience created by the firm's design is a wholly unique journey of discovery from top to bottom.
In addition to its luxury home and fashion departments, El Palacio de Hierro Coyoacán features a barber shop designed to celebrate the career of famous Mexican actor, Emilio Fernandez. Additional project features include a woman's beauty salon, nursery, mezcal bar, cafe, and cantina, as well as a food hall inspired by one of Coyoacán'smain plazas. Spaces are tied together by a central escalator bay adorned with murals mounted on sheets of metal, allowing the firm's design narrative to unfold cinematically both physically and figuratively as shoppers ascend.
Accentuated by its commitment to Mexican history, culture, and art, as well as to the power of incredible design, this flagship store is more than a shopping destination – it is a philosophy and a lifestyle.
Architect: TPG Architecture, LLP
General Contractor: El Palacio de Hierro
Outside Design Consultants: Yanieb Fabre, Integrated Lighting Concepts, Kromatik Coverings
Suppliers: STOR, HUITZILIN, PC PROYECTOS COMERCIALES, MATERIAM, ALUPROJECTS, AG LIGHTING, ARCHBIM STUDIO
In addition to El Palacio de Hierro Coyoacán, the Retail Design Institute would like to congratulate the Class of 2022, representing the best of the best in retail stores and experiences completed between January 1st and December 31st, 2022:
American Outpost
Clermont
LOVE and Bergmeyer
2022 Store of the Year
Innovation Awards: Branding & Technology and Digital Integration
Sage & Sound
New York
RDC
El Palacio de Hierro Coyoacán
Coyoacán
TPG Architecture
High Street Place
Boston
Gensler
Miller & Lux
New York
MBH Architects
Innovation Award: Finishes & Materiality
Petco
San Marcos
Arcadis Inc.
Innovation Award: Wayfinding & Environmental Graphics
Bentonville Nature Near Pavilion
Virtual, Bentonville
NELSON Worldwide
Innovation Awards: Unbuilt Conceptual Design
Victoria's Secret Bombshell Gardens
New York
MG2/Lionesque Group
Central Park
North York
II BY IV Design
Victorinox
London
Dalziel & Pow Design Consultants
Innovation Award: Fixturing
Clyde & Grain
Glasgow
Gensler
Innovation Award: Wayfinding & Environmental Graphics
Greenwich St. Jewelers
New York
MAOarch Architecture D.P.C.
Innovation Award: Customer Journey
Johnny Cupcakes
Boston
Bergmeyer
Innovation Awards: Visual Merchandising and Conceptual Design
Vuori
New York
Heitler Houstoun Architects, PC
Innovation Award: Lighting
Wilson
New York
Bergmeyer