The agship store for the iconic fashion label Prada in a dense area of Tokyo
can be examined via formal and bodily analyses in order to understand the
project more completely. The project led the designers to explore ideas of,
among other things, context, privilege, and perception. In fact, the Prada
Aoyama store, by Herzog & de Meuron can be described as an “instrument of
perception” (Mack, 2009, p. 120); this applies across the scales and is not
relegated to the unilateral. The building operates within a context of a busy
shopping district, and employs form and facade techniques to give the visitor
a unique experience: the “perceptual processes refer to the architectural
project itself and, from there, to the entire city; to Prada products and to
people passing by” (Mack, 2009, p. 120). With a recurring theme of perception,
the notions of form and body will be explored through a series of
diagrams and writings.