A LOOK AT HARVARD SQUARE: DESIGN RESEARCH HEADQUARTERS
By Emily Xie | January 17th, 2012
Design Research Headquarters as occupied by D/R. Photo via Design Happens
Harvard Square is full of historic buildings that too often go unnoticed by its pedestrians—student transplants, native Cantabrigians, and year-round tourists alike. Just a stone’s throw away from Soldier Design’s office on Brattle Street sits a historic building constructed, in 1969, by world-renowned architect Benjamin Thompson. Known as the Design Research Headquarters, the cantilevered, five-story, glass facade building won the 25-Year Award Design in 2003, granted by the American Institute of Architects for its innovative and modern design that at the time redefined retail architecture.
Today, we know the building to house Anthropologie, while its previous inhabitant, Crate & Barrel, remains ever fresh in our memories. Yet, if we rewind back to late 1960, we discover that the Brattle Street building was originally conceived for a lifestyle store of the same name, Design Research (D/R), which was a revolutionary and wildly popular modern design household goods franchise that the architect Thompson himself had established in 1953. Though the D/R franchise fared well throughout the United States, the company proved to be particularly successful—and even culturally iconic— in its Brattle Street location.
The brand’s success at this specific venue drew on the interaction—the synthesis—of product and architecture to create an exciting consumer experience. In the late 1960s, the building’s modern glass facade jutted conspicuously from its brick and clapboard surroundings. Alluring in its uniqueness, the building symbolized the new, the hip, the brave, and the modern.
Meanwhile, the wall-to-ceiling glass facade transformed the building into a giant display case. Thus, the merchandise—in its strong visual impact and arrangement within the space—performed a crucial function as it activated the space. D/R’s product aesthetic was electric, zestful, even daring. Looking from the street outside, neon colors and bold, zigzagging patterns punctuated the otherwise brick-and-clapboard architectural environment of Harvard Square. At night, the store became all the more vibrant, as light and color radiated through glass and cast an otherworldly glow onto the surrounding street.
Image of interior with products. Photo via Cool Hunting
Indeed, the building seemed to “come alive” in many respects. Looking through the glass, the perusing customers, the upbeat spirit of the employees, and the vivacious colors and prints of the merchandise, collectively resulted in a space that was wholly enlivened and animated. The Design Research Headquarters transcended its role as a retail store. In its optimistic and bold aesthetic, D/R became a social hub, replete with human interaction. It was a place to see and to be seen, as inside, customers lounging on sofas would spark conversation with other shoppers nearby, while those examining glassware on the ground level waved greetings to friends passing by on the street.
Thompson’s idea was not to sell a product, but rather, an attitude towards design. He aimed for a store that generated excitement, that brought to the Square an invigorating consumer experience. Indeed, Thompson achieved this end, by smartly conceiving an architectural piece that worked hand in hand with its merchandise, whose glass facade allowed for the store to become a part of the street itself, and for its bold merchandise to vitalize and draw consumers from without to within. Thus, the Design Research Headquarters houses a great historical example of how product and architecture can interact, coming together to establish a strong brand identity.
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Image of book cover and D/R merchandise. Photo via Cool Hunting
To read more on the topic, buy the recent Design Research Book here.