Toys ‘R’ Us Times Square storefront
Gensler, New York, New York, 2001
Description
The intention of this project was to design and build a storefront for the international flagship store of Toys ‘R’ Us in the heart of New York’s Times Square. The world’s largest toy store needed to be positioned as a premiere destination for tourists, customers and passersby. To help the building stand out within a media-dense area, we developed an innovative billboard that would generate its own advertising revenue.
The “building board” consists of 165 individual modules. Each is controlled by a scrolling mechanism, allowing up to seven separate scenes to be displayed, creating a continuously changing choreographed show. An eighth panel, which is clear, reveals the interior of the store.
Juror Notes
“A very successful use of the grid. Playful and appropriate.”
Credits
- Design firm
- Gensler
- Design director
- John Bricker
- Designers
- Jean Koeppel, Peter Laudermilch, Beth Novitsky
- Architects
- Carlos Espinosa, Tom Kowalski
- Graphics project manager
- Jill Wittnebel
- Fabricators
- Diazit, Focus Lighting, Show and Tell, Inc., Vomela Harvard Graphics
- Client
- Toys ‘R’ Us