Pastime Retreat

In downtown Raleigh, the largest skyscraper in North Carolina also has a large lobby that is mostly unused space. I chose this location as a spot to develop a toy store — a Pastime Retreat inspired by my love of toys.

The northwest corner of the PNC building on Fayetteville St. has a lobby for the residential portion of the building. I used the module of the existing super columns on that corner as the basis for my curvilinear wood design that follows the same grid. I thought about the playfulness a toy store needs to accommodate and derived these playful curves that envelop the space, creating more private areas of shelves and a cashier’s desk, with room for an elevated play space for people of all ages to release their inner kid underneath the playful structure.