La DoubleJ | b-arch

b-arch, the architecture and interior design studio founded in Florence by Sabrina Bignami and Alessandro Capellaro, has designed the new La DoubleJ flagship store in New York. The project occupies the first three floors of a Victorian townhouse on the Upper East Side, formerly home to a traditional clothing shop defined by a Classic Modern aesthetic, with brass, marble and black-and-white checkered flooring. Since structural interventions were extremely limited, the challenge was to introduce the brand’s identity without disrupting the existing architecture.

La DoubleJ’s universe is built around spirituality, meditation, personal growth, sisterhood, light and elevation, spanning fashion, jewelry and home collections within a consistent symbolic language. Starting from the rigidity of the existing layout—geometric, familiar and almost conformist—b-arch developed the concept of a round space: an architecture within the architecture, where circular and semi-circular rooms are inserted into the rectilinear Victorian structure.

The circle becomes a symbol of continuity, centrality, movement and elevation. Each room hosts a new circular or semi-circular space, open toward the original architecture and connected through brass portals conceived as thresholds of passage and growth. The result is a fluid narrative journey, legible and reversible, unfolding across the floors according to a circular logic aligned with the brand’s identity.

The third floor houses the VIP Room, dedicated to special clients, and the Temple, a space for meditation and elevation. Conceived as a non-religious inner altar, it reflects the ritual dimension that is part of La DoubleJ’s international retail experience.

Where full circular structures were not possible, b-arch introduced mirrored semi-cylindrical elements that create the illusion of larger circular rooms. This strategy is also used in the home collection area, conceived as an elongated wunderkammer lit by a decorated skylight.

The existing architecture becomes a neutral backdrop, with walls, ceilings and carpet in a warm dark white. The new curved surfaces are clad in mother-of-pearl, while brass defines edges and portals. Circular and semi-circular rugs complete the spatial composition, reinforcing the geometry and character of the project.