Dome

General view, from across street on Fifth Ave, showing the west (left) and south (right) elevations; Louis Vuitton's 20,000 square foot store in Manhattan is built in the New York Trust Company building, most recently occupied by Warner Brothers. The transformation of the building's exterior from 1930 art deco into contemporary luxury was designed by Jun Aoki, the Japanese architect responsible for Louis Vuitton's retail appearance in Japan. Aoki describes his glass façade as "a playfully sleek meditation on crystalline transparency and clouded translucency." The white milkiness created by a ceramic coating on the inner surface of the glass extends into the window openings, where a white checkerboard pattern creates a gradual transition from opacity to transparency - a similar effect to that used in most modern cars where black dots printed on the glass are used to suggest that the windows are larger than the metal frames behind them. In the Louis Vuitton store the transition is intriguingly effective, both during the day and at dusk. Source: Galinsky [website]; http://www.galinsky.com/ (accessed 1/28/2008)