Project Name: DESCENTE Marunouchi

Location: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Design Team: Oniki Design Studio / Koichiro Oniki

Total Floor Area: 153.82 m²

Completion: June 2025

Photography: Takumi Ota

Feature: ODS architect Koichiro Oniki has completed the DESCENTE store in Tokyo's Shin-Marunouchi Building, transforming a commercial floor space into a striking embodiment of the sportswear brand's core philosophy. The project stands as a sophisticated translation of DESCENTE's foundational principle of "functional beauty" into physical form, utilizing a carefully curated palette of industrial materials including stainless steel, surface-emitting light panels, and glass to create an atmosphere that bridges athletic performance and refined aesthetics.

The design's most distinctive feature emerges from a thoughtful interpretation of DESCENTE's spirit mark logo, comprising three arrows that represent fundamental skiing techniques: straight descent, diagonal descent, and side slip. This graphic element inspired the store's signature 45-degree angle motif, which appears throughout the space in various material applications. Notably, plastered walls feature diagonal comb patterns that evoke freshly groomed ski slopes, while herringbone flooring arrangements echo this angular geometry, creating visual continuity that reinforces the brand's origins in ski apparel.

Located near Tokyo Station in the prestigious Shin-Marunouchi Building, the 153.82-square-meter retail space balances DESCENTE's heritage with contemporary commercial demands. The material choices deliberately reference the brand's technical expertise and commitment to innovation. Stainless steel surfaces suggest precision engineering, luminous panels provide clean, even illumination reminiscent of mountain light, and glass elements maintain spatial transparency while defining distinct product zones.

This interior design transcends conventional retail environments by embedding brand narrative within every surface and detail. The 45-degree plastered walls, with their distinctive combed texture resembling compacted snow, create a tactile connection to DESCENTE's skiing heritage while maintaining the sleek sophistication expected in Tokyo's competitive retail landscape. Through this project, ODS has successfully captured DESCENTE's forward-thinking approach to craftsmanship, creating a space where functional beauty is not merely displayed but architecturally embodied.

The project's most compelling design feature lies in its spatial expression of brand philosophy and precise application of material language. The design team transforms DESCENTE's genetic origin in ski apparel into perceptible spatial experience, constructing a retail environment that possesses both technical sensibility and warmth through the combination of stainless steel, surface lighting, and glass materials. Continuous 45-degree inclined elements are innovatively employed to unify spatial language while cleverly echoing the geometric form of the brand logo.

Most remarkably, the architects create unique brand atmosphere within commercial space through clever manipulation of material texture and angular variations. The diagonal combed texture of plastered materials resembles freshly snow-covered ski slopes, complemented by strategic lighting design that fills the entire space with dimensional layers, while main display areas establish visual connection through glass partitions and open layout, creating transparent and fluid shopping experiences.

Spatial strategy continues this harmonious unification design philosophy between brand spirit and commercial function. Precise material application and restrained design approach create mutual resonance, with 45-degree angular elements reinforcing the integration between space and brand logo. Large transparent interfaces promote visual flow and spatial continuity, ensuring comfortable and efficient retail environments, perfectly suited for urban consumers' expectations of quality shopping experiences.

Design Team：Oniki Design Studio, established in 2015 by architect Koichiro Oniki and restructured as a corporation in 2017, has emerged as a distinguished practice specializing in architecture, interior design, and exhibition spatial design. Based in Tokyo, the studio operates under the leadership of founder Koichiro Oniki, supported by a core team including Keisuke Fujiki, Hazuki Kato, and Akito Kitahara.

Oniki brings a robust international perspective to the practice, having spent his formative years in the United Kingdom before graduating from Waseda University's Department of Architecture and completing graduate studies there. His professional trajectory includes significant tenure at Nikken Sekkei, one of Japan's foremost architectural firms, followed by a decade at nendo, where he developed extensive expertise in spatial design across domestic and international projects.

The studio's design philosophy prioritizes narrative-driven spatial experiences that create lasting impressions, emphasizing the inherent stories within each project. This approach has garnered substantial recognition within the architectural and design community, including the JID Award 2024 Gold Prize, International Design Awards 2024 Silver Prize, ELLE DECO Design Awards 2023 for Japanese Best Interior Design, and multiple Sky Design Awards. The firm's international acclaim extends to honors such as the Architizer A+Awards Jury Winner, Singapore Interior Design Award Gold Prize, and American Architecture Prize, establishing Oniki Design Studio as a practice of global significance with a distinctly Japanese sensibility for spatial refinement and conceptual clarity.

The firm's design philosophy emphasizes that spatial design should transcend functional limitations, designed not merely to satisfy basic commercial needs but to evolve organically with brand spirit and user experience. Through deep attention to project narrative recognition and material expression, working across diversified projects from retail to exhibition spaces, they believe the best design results from refined interventions through precise and thoughtful processes. Oniki Design Studio believes space should serve as a carrier of brand identity and user memory, creating unique experiential design through strategic spatial organization and material selection.

Beyond practice, through thoughtful integration of industrial materials with contemporary design methods, brand DNA and spatial narrative application, and time-tested design wisdom, Oniki Design Studio has established itself as a significant contributor to contemporary Japanese spatial design discourse, creating works that are both functional and embrace design innovation. The firm currently occupies a unique position within Tokyo's dynamic design landscape, focusing on creating memorable and narrative-rich spatial experiences.