Founder Michel Abboud of SOMA attended the 2016 Architizer A+ Awards gala to accept the best retail award for SOMA’s Unilux Showroom. Winners were selected based on excellence in form, function and innovation.

The Architizer A+Awards is the world largest awards program that celebrates the year’s best architecture, appreciates meaningful architecture in the world, and champions it’s potential for a positive impact on everyday life.  Winners are chosen by an illustrious jury including such industry luminaries as Denise Scott Brown, Bjarke Ingels and Tom Kundig, as well as personalities from beyond architecture like Tony Hsieh (CEO, Zappos), Yves Behar (Fuseproject), John Edelman (CEO, Design Within Reach), Cameron Sinclair (Architecture for Humanity) and Barry Bergdoll (MoMA).

“I am honored that Unilux has won this award. It is exciting to see my design chosen amongst so much great talent,” said Mr. Abboud. “We wanted to design a place to help the store’s limited depth appears larger to the eye, and I’m thrilled that our vision resonated with the Architizer A+ Awards.”

The Unilux showroom has 65 feet of frontage, and is only 13 feet in depth.  Working within these confines, Mr. Abboud used advanced parametric tools in order to array 1,000 50cm white glass-reinforced plastic cubes, creating one continuous surface within the space. This innovative main room was also designed to be used in tandem for events, and features a separate bar area that fits seamlessly into the room’s design.

“I am very proud of the Unilux store and how our concept came to life.  The showroom was not designed as a container for retail content with the product as the centerpiece, rather the architecture of the showroom is the centerpiece,” said Mr. Abboud.  “We are very excited Unilux chose SOMA to give them an unforgettable space.” 

About SOMA

International architecture firm SOMA, headquartered in New York, was founded in 2004 by Michel Abboud. With its focus on incorporating craft, digital technologies and environmental responsibility, the firm’s designs and work have attracted critical acclaim for their boundary pushing nature. SOMA’s work is rising around the world today—in New York, Dubai, Lebanon and other international markets—with remarkable offerings of luxury hotel, condominium and mixed-use developments that underscore the firm’s cutting edge appeal.