Under Armour, LEGO, and Gigorio Borusso Design take home top A.R.E. Design Awards

LAS VEGAS— Under Armour Brand House, LEGO and Giorgio Borusso Design took home top honors at the A.R.E. Design Awards ceremony held at the Four Seasons Hotel Ballroom March 23.

The Chicago Under Armour flagship store, designed by Big Red Rooster and located on the Magnificent Mile – a prestigious retail destination in Chicago – prevailed with the Store of the Year Award over 21 Gold Award winners from around the globe.

The Chicago location is a showcase for the brand's newest and innovative products. A black entry turret sets the tone for 30,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Immersion begins in the two-level rotunda, while videos and graphics envelop customers with score updates and social media. A giant bust wearing a UA shirt, a soaring ceiling, and a 30 ft. diameter LED ring provide large-scale imagery.

LEGO Shopper Marketing Agency of Denmark won Visual Presentation of the Year for its display in the new Hamleys toy store in Moscow's Lubyanka Square. 1.9 million LEGO bricks and 8,000 hours were spent on the project.

The winning LEGO display celebrates culturally and historically significant figures and events like the invention of the wheel, Alexander the Great, an iconic Viking ship, Gutenberg, and Galileo and his telescope, through the classic style of Russian monuments. The centerpiece culminates in the age of mass communication and space exploration, acknowledging Russia's current and past efforts in the field.

The Store Fixture of the Year was awarded to Giorgio Borruso Design for their Shapelifter Pixel Wall in the Chicago installation of ShopWithMe, a mobile, interactive retail store.

The functionality of the wall goes far beyond providing a place for goods to sit or hang. It actually brings product to the shopper to show something new and interesting, providing details about products or suggesting accompanying items. Like the store in which it resides, the wall integrates technology, merchandise display, and brand building.

A record 75 awards were presented this year, honoring all aspects of retail store design, with winners representing eight countries, including Vietnam and South Korea. The A.R.E. Design Awards--the industry's largest and most prestigious retail store design awards program--is in its 45th year.

Gold Awards were presented in all categories last night, as well as the Visual Presentation of the Year, Fixture of the Year, Individual Element Awards, and the Merriman Above & Beyond Award.

Full coverage of award-winning projects along with previous winners can be found here. 

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Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].