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Think all supermarkets look alike? Do not be fooled. Across the globe, a handful of architects are turning the humble weekly shop into something extraordinary – part art installation, part social experiment.
The architecture of these supermarkets is amazing. From the brutalist bunker in Mallorca to the tiny red treasure in Tokyo, from the boulder-bound store in Estonia to Bangkok’s green market or Venice’s frescoed wonder.
Next time you’re trundling down the fluorescent aisles of your local chain, remember: somewhere out there, someone’s doing their food shop under a ceiling of recycled crates, beside a 280-year-old dried-food shop, or beneath a frescoed ceiling – and loving every minute of it.
Mallorca’s brutalist masterpiece
Mallorca’s Voramar Supermarket has changed the game of grocery shopping in Pollensa. Designed by homegrown design firm Minimal Studio, the project – nicknamed Plastic Box – looks more like a modern art museum than a place to grab milk and tomatoes.
The exterior of the building is dominated by a concrete shell with dark portals. Inside, the ceiling, made out of over a thousand plastic crates recycled, filters sunlight and creates geometric shadows throughout the day.
The project has won Gold in this year’s Japan International Design Pioneer Awards. It is easy to understand why. It’s not just a cool space – it’s a clever critique of consumer culture.
The crates that once symbolized mass consumption now form an eco-friendly rainwater and ventilation system.
A spokesperson explains, “We wanted expose what is usually hidden.” “It’s raw, honest architecture – but with a conscience.”
Tokyo’s slim Red Treasure
Yagicho-Honten has been a staple of Japanese cuisine for 280-years.
The store is on the ground level of a slim nine-storey office building that was designed in late 1970s. It’s only 3.65 metres wide.
Tokyo-based Schemata Architects recently renovated the space, painting all fixtures and fittings the same vibrant red as the building’s façade.
Display boxes made of wood painted in the same color and stacked together to create the illusion of a busy marketplace can be used to create an engaging shopping environment.
A cash-counter island doubles as a demo kitchen at the center. The design encourages a ‘non-hierarchical communication between hosts and guests,’according to the architects.
The supermarket is built around a boulder
In Haabneeme, Estonia, supermarket Viimsi refused to blast through a huge rock sitting in its foundations – and simply built around it.
The 22-metre-wide erratic rocks, left by glaciers during the last Ice Age when they retreated, were almost destroyed in 2014 until locals rallied around to save them.
Developers built a shopping center around the site to honour its place within the community.
The quirky store has a natural rock that towers over the shoppers, creating a surreal image of the surrounding landscape. It’s a practical decision turned design statement – and a magnet for curious tourists who want to see ‘the shop with the rock’.
Bangkok goes green
In Bangkok, supermarkets are sprouting new life – literally. Across the Thai capital, architects are embracing vertical gardens and living façades, integrating hydroponic farming with shopping.
One striking example is The Commons, in Thonglor… not a supermarket per se, but a community market where lush greenery wraps the façade and herbs grow beside the café counters.
The trend is growing in Southeast Asia towards making urban retail spaces cleaner, more eco-friendly and more sustainable.
Venetian elegant grocery revival
Spar has given new life to a historic building in Venice that was once a movie theater.
This store is a unique shopping experience, with its high ceilings and beautifully preserved frescos.
More than €2.5 million was spent renovating the space while preserving its artistic heritage. The shelving and lighting are low so that the frescos can be appreciated fully.
Even the cooling units are designed to reuse the heat generated by the unit for heating the store or producing hot water. This combines sustainability and elegance.
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