RTA New York City

Located in New York’s prestigious Soho district, the third retail location for fashion label RTA occupies a landmark-certified building, presenting numerous design challenges including a very limited budget, pandemic-era constraints, and the need for a bold visual identity within a fixed historical envelope. Evolving the brand’s architectural language from its Los Angeles and Las Vegas locations, the design contextualizes the edgy fashion house within Soho’s gritty and storied streetscape. The 14-foot-tall interior is organized along a strong central axis that divides the space into two zones for distinct collections. Blackened steel I-beams span the ceiling, supporting a custom hanging system that defines flexible “rooms” through product alone—an intentional response to the pandemic’s call for more intimate retail environments. A restrained yet richly textured palette of materials—ranging from wood plank floors and Corian surfaces to rubberized red fitting rooms and Baccarat crystal—creates a minimalist yet layered backdrop.

Anchoring the space is a dramatic mirrored sculpture created in collaboration with Baccarat. Inspired by bins of discarded crystal, the 40-foot-long installation encases nearly 1,000 pounds of fragmented fine crystal—candelabras, flutes, and limited-edition pieces—transformed into a glowing “crystal disco ball.” Display boxes increase in size and brightness as they progress through the space, lit from within by deeply set LED lights. The floor beneath is painted in a ten-band epoxy gradient from white to black, drawing daylight inward from the facade and concluding in the Red Room: a softly lit enclave with arched, red velvet–lined fitting rooms and a custom Parisian café–style sofa. At the end of the 90-foot axis, a projection wall displays RTA’s latest collections, merging fashion, art, and architecture in a cohesive and immersive retail experience.