Try-on Truck
by

Try-on Truck, USA Mobile Structure, Nomadic Retail Fitting Architecture, Images

Try-on Truck in USA Retail Fitting

True & Co. Retail Vehicle in North America design by SAW and MOA

May 6, 2016

Try-on Truck

Design: Dan Spiegel of SAW, Spiegel Aihara Workshop and Dustin Stephens of MOA, Mobile Office Architects

Try-on-Truck will tour the US throughout 2016

Try-on Truck

American architectural offices Mobile Office Architects (MOA) and Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW) collaborated to develop the True & Co. ‘Try-On-Truck,’ a nomadic retail fitting room traveling across the United States.

For San Francisco based True & Co., an online company known for its ‘big data’ approach to finding women the perfect fitting bra, the project was the first move into physical retail space. The vehicle creates a highly transformable, flexible, and comfortable space on a mobile platform, providing the ability to deploy on a new site daily.

Try-on Truck

The demands and intentions of the project created a challenging design problem– the vehicle needed to attract crowds, but also create an intimate and private customer experience within. There was a distinct need to communicate a clear and striking brand identity for True & Co., but also create a mysterious allure. The variety of site conditions that could pose problems required a high degree of flexibility and adaptability. And, importantly, the retail space needed to be able to pack up, move, and redeploy quickly.

Try-on Truck Try-on Truck

The interior is organized around a series of four fitting rooms and a specialized system of curated trays built into a millwork display. The base of the vehicle is a 24-ft x 8.5-ft trailer, intended to carry a ‘tiny home.’ A custom steel frame, supports a continuous wall of glass on one side and a series of transformable folding doors on the other, providing entry, seating and a checkout counter. The alcove spaces created by the fold-out elements add an additional 3’-3” of width to the space. Inventory and ‘back-of-house’ necessities are tucked away in under-floor storage compartments.

The vehicle uses a small onboard generator to produce power for LED lighting, heating, ventilation, and the audio-visual system components. Each piece of the design is independently operable, allowing for a for a highly adaptable experience depending on the site, weather, capacity, or type of event. A textile wall system behind the glass opens and closes in segments, allowing for the passage of light, providing for privacy, and folding open for a semi-voyeuristic display of product and brand imagery. You can check out expert trucker views.

Try-on Truck

The Try-on-Truck project builds on a growing trend in mobile retail and other more developed American nomadic culture movements, namely the rise of Food Trucks and Tiny Houses. For MOA and SAW, the project is one of several collaborations centered around a fascination in mobile, deployable, and adaptable structures:

“Our offices align in the belief that the preoccupation we’ve seen in the past five-years with small and mobile spaces is more than a trend. Modern America is in the early stages of realizing we don’t have limitless resources, in our lifetimes the ownership of land will look very different -only realistic for those with substantial wealth. We see this condition already in the areas we work in, particularly in the West Coast cities. We believe efficient nomadic spaces will play an increasing role as these forces play out, by offering an opportunity for ownership and control of one’s space. We see these conditions being applicable to all types of small-scale privately owned space.”

Try-on Truck

MOA and SAW are optimistic that nomadic spaces offer some answers for our future and are currently engaged in a study of the underutilized mobile home park typology as a potential way to hack the affordable housing crisis in Californian cities.

The True & Co. Try-on-Truck will tour the US throughout 2016.

Try-on Truck

Try-on Truck USA – Building Information

Textile Curtain System: Molo Thinwall
Interior Millwork and Finish: ApplePly
Interior Lighting: Juno Trac 12 Lighting
Vehicle Chassis: Iron Eagle Flatbed Trailer

Try-on Truck

Photography: Bruce Damonte

Try-on Truck in USA image / information received 060516

Location: San Francisco, North California, USA

New Architecture in San Francisco

Contemporary San Francisco Architecture

San Francisco Architectural Designs – chronological list

San Francisco Architectural Walking Tours by e-architect

San Francisco Architecture Offices – architecture firm listings on e-architect

San Francisco Architecture – Selection

Facebook Campus Expansion, Menlo Park, San Mateo County, San Francisco Bay Area
Design: Frank Gehry – Gehry Partners, LLP
Facebook Campus Menlo Park

SFMOMA Expansion
Design: Snøhetta
SFMOMA Expansion

Academic Center at College of Marin, Kentfield
Design: TLCD Architecture + Mark Cavagnero Associates
College of Marin Academic Center Building
photo : Tim Griffith
College of Marin Academic Center Building

Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Comments / photos for the Try-on Truck in USA – page welcome

Website: SAW, Spiegel Aihara Workshop / MOA, Mobile Office Architects