As part of its reinvention and international growth strategy, Printemps, the renowned French luxury department store, announced in July 2022 its plans to open its first U.S. store in New York City at One Wall Street in 2025. This move represented a bold step in Printemps’ mission to pioneer a new format of experiential retail tailored to the unique demands of the U.S. market. Positioned in the dynamic Financial District, the new flagship store combines Parisian heritage with modern innovation, aiming to serve both local customers and international tourists.
Printemps envisioned a seamless commerce ecosystem that would connect every aspect of the customer experience—from the in-store journey to the website and digital wayfinding systems. This integrated approach ensured harmony across physical and digital touchpoints. However, the project presented unique challenges. The store, set in the historic One Wall Street building, was still under construction, and its interiors were being meticulously designed by renowned Parisian interior architect Laura Gonzalez. L+R was tasked with designing an advanced in-store digital wayfinding solution and ensuring backend integration with Printemps’ broader omnichannel systems. This required balancing the constraints of working with an incomplete physical space while aligning with the iconic and intricate design elements of the store's architecture.
Luxury retail spaces require exceptional attention to detail in layout and navigation to ensure a cohesive customer journey. While our team was developing the taxonomy and front-end user experience of the store's wayfinding, we needed a tool to prototype and test in a manner that integrated their advanced digital systems with the iconic interior design. Traditional methods like static plans and renders fell short in delivering the immersive and interactive quality necessary to validate spatial decisions.
L+R developed ScreenLayer for the Apple Vision Pro. This innovative platform allowed for immersive full-scale prototyping of wayfinding systems directly within the store environment. ScreenLayer enabled designers and stakeholders to visualize digital signage, wayfinding displays, and spatial layouts in real time, offering a more accurate representation than traditional design methods. Through interactive testing, the Printemps team could simulate customer navigation and evaluate the effectiveness of various designs. The tool supported rapid iteration, allowing for immediate adjustments based on stakeholder feedback and usability insights. Additionally, ScreenLayer fostered seamless collaboration across disciplines, ensuring alignment between aesthetic goals, technical systems, and customer-centric design.
The introduction of ScreenLayer revolutionized the design process for Printemps' flagship store. By enabling immersive prototyping, the tool significantly reduced the need for physical mockups, saving both time and resources. It improved the precision of wayfinding placement and digital integrations, ensuring they harmonized with the iconic interior design. Beyond the Printemps project, ScreenLayer has demonstrated its potential as a scalable solution for luxury retail and other complex spatial planning projects.
ScreenLayer helped Printemps evaluate digital signage inside a luxury flagship before the store was complete. The broader challenge is making spatial decisions feel concrete early enough for teams to test, align, and refine them. L+R connects immersive prototyping, UX design, and technical execution so physical environments and digital touchpoints can be planned as one experience. If your space needs smarter digital guidance, let's build the prototype before the build is locked.
