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Visual Merchandising, Concessions & Pop Ups

The Silver Room: Future Firm redesign Chicago's boutique and community space

Collaborating with Norman Teague Design Studios, the renovation of the 1,500 sq ft project on the city’s Southside, located in the vibrant Hyde Park neighbourhood, champions local artists and designers

by Georgina Johnston 24 September 2021

The team created a flexible design system that supports The Silver Room’s evolving display of products and vibrant programming schedule that sees the space shift almost daily from a boutique into a theatre, storytelling space, gallery, classroom, dance floor, or hub for their annual block party. 

Founded by Chicagoan Eric Williams in 1997, The Silver Room has assumed three locations and undergone more than 10 redesigns over the course of its 22-year history; these included its inaugural space in Wicker Park, a popup boutique in Wicker Park, and the current Hyde Park location. 

The latest renovation marks the first time Williams engaged a full team of architects and designers and applied concepts such as behavioural science and flow of traffic. In keeping with the boutique’s mission to support local artists and artists of colour in particular, Williams gathered a design team from the surrounding community. While the recent emergence of COVID-19 forced The Silver Room to temporarily close, it also offered the opportunity to complete the long-planned renovation.

Local architects Ann Lui and Craig Reschke, founders and principals of Future Firm, began with a design strategy centred around flexibility, simplicity, and a unifying aesthetic that transforms the space into a quiet backdrop for Silver Room’s curated selection of products. 

All armatures of the exposed ceiling are painted a monolithic white, while the walls are coated in a two-tone scheme of white and grey. Four custom x-shaped neon lights run down the centre of the room, elongating the rectangular space and drawing the eye from front to back, while the floor is coated with grey, glossy epoxy that is simultaneously resilient and easy to clean. 

This monochromatic, monolithic backdrop highlights and accentuates the custom plywood display systems, designed in collaboration with Norman Teague Design Studios, founded by local designer and educator Norman Teague Implemented as a plug-and-play system, each unit allows simple but significant adjustments as merchandise changes, pegs, rods, and shelves can be raised or lowered, removed or added. Display cases throughout the space are mounted on wheels, providing easy flexibility when the interior layout requires adjustment for larger events. 

In several instances, elements from The Silver Room’s prior iterations were retained and embedded in the new design, simultaneously reflecting strategic cost-saving measures and honouring the boutique’s long history. The DJ booth and front desk were preserved and clad in new plywood facing, while the store’s logo, located on the face of the front desk, is cut out to show the original wood below, a homage to past millwork. 

Other strategic design measures included the application of behavioural science and flow of traffic to the layout, according to a strategic plan completed for The Silver Room by Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Per the plan, 90% of people turn right when entering a store, so the most popular and highest selling items are placed to the right of the door; on the left, a less busy area, the team introduced a new book and media area which has space for browsing; the area has become very popular for its focus on books covering antiracist efforts, Black artists and authors, and art and design, as well as vintage records and magazines.

Throughout the renovation, construction processes prioritised South-side based vendors and trades, continuing The Silver Room’s community-focused mission and commitment to supporting Black-owned businesses. Lighting and electricity were facilitated by Gravity, Andrew Kirkland, who has worked with Williams since the 90s, while digital fabrication processes for the CNC plug-and-play woodwork system was developed by local fabricator Max Davis. All construction was adapted to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, simultaneously minimising on-site work and accelerating implementation.


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