How a car showroom transforms the retail experience with technology 

Images courtesy of Unknown Works, Zeekr, Factory Fifteen and WWW™ 

Behind the nineteenth-century facades of Vroom & Dreesman, a landmark ex-department store in central Amsterdam, Unknown Works invites locals to a ‘digitally-led automotive experience’ featuring cutting-edge technology. The creative architecture, design and art studio (based in both London and Hong Kong) created the sleek concept store on behalf of electric car company Zeekr, after winning an international design competition for the commission. Through a clever interplay of light, integrated technology and interactive elements, Unknown Works successfully ‘brings the driving experience indoors’ – demonstrating the power of experiential design in creating retail spaces of the future.

Capitalising on its prime location at the intersection of Rokin and Kalverstraat – the main canal and shopping artery of Amsterdam – the studio incorporated two glazed frontages, allowing the store to be seen by passing pedestrians, cyclists and even boats from both sides. Venturing inside, visitors are presented with an audiovisual installation called ‘The Central Moment’, which is centred around a bright orange car lift. Occupying a gulf left by the department store’s old escalator, this flexible lift platform displays a sleek Zeekr car, around which installations can be created and updated by the store. Enabled by vast transparent LED screens (used at this scale for the first time outside China), these installations were created in partnership with BAFTA award-winning creative studio Factory Fifteen. In this dramatic focal point, the transparent screens allow the visuals to be seen from all sides reflected on the body of the car, simulating a test drive in imaginary European cityscapes or lush countryside scenes.

Designed for versatility and public engagement, the central car lift can be raised or taken down to the basement, opening up the 2.5m storey space to host events, lectures or demonstrations. Other flexible, multi-functional spaces within the store include an educational area with large screens for presentations, car configuration zones with interactive screens and CMF swatches, a special partner display area (showcasing specialty vehicles such as eclectic boats) and private consultation rooms, as well as an in-house café and bar.

Alongside bespoke stainless steel display systems and modular configuration tables with embedded tech, Unknown Works also relied on light to play a crucial role in customer experience. Against a minimalist backdrop of white terrazzo and exposed concrete columns, all lighting systems are colour customisable, allowing staff to transform the space depending on the occasion – throughout the store, a grid of light panels are also set above an open mesh ceiling provide additional depth to the tall space. “We aimed to maintain transparency across the space, ensuring that the product and story of technology is championed,” explains Kaowen Ho, Director of Unknown Works. “Something visible from both the shopping district and canal-side context, and capable of capturing people’s attention from outside and drawing them in.”