An Optical Shop for Cubitts: The Modern Spectacle Maker
This project creates an optician’s shop for Cubitts within a pair of railway arches at Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross, London. Cubitts is a small independent spectacles retailer based in Kings Cross whose ‘butterfly’ shaped logo is derived from a structural rivet employed by the Cubitt brothers in the original construction of Granary Square. At ground level the scheme employs a game of perspective where passers-by can perceive a three-dimensional spatial realisation of the Cubitts logo when two rectangular vertical planes are viewed from a particular angle. As such the scheme plays around with viewpoints, sight-lines, eye-levels and vanishing points as elements that are part of how our eyes help us experience architectural space. The basement showroom, workshop and consultation spaces employ a gridded display screen that cleverly uses the rules of perspective to become more open when viewed from a distance and more closed when viewed up close. The grid module supports a flexible spectacle display system where components effortlessly slot into the screen. I hope you enjoy looking at the project as much as enjoyed creating it!
