"The store functions as luminous light box," says principal lighting designer Bill Schwinghammer of Johnson Schwinghammer, who previously consulted with 1100 Architect on the design of the midtown MoMa Design Store. For lighting that melds with the architectural envelope, rather than functioning as applied accent illumination, the design team engineered a luminous wall and ceiling treatment punctuated by glowing glass-sheathed columns. A skinlike polyvinyl membrane fabric is stretched across multiple panels along the ceiling, down one wall of the main floor level, and down the same wall of the cellar level in a continuous, unbroken curve. Backlit by fluorescents, the surface creates a bright, shadow-free interior to frame the distinct shapes and colors of merchandise on display. "With ceiling heights of almost 20 feet, the ceiling plane is monolithic but dynamic enough to light the space," Schwinghammer says.