Aesop’s New Barcelona Store: A Showcase of Local Identity and Sustainable Design

In a bid to celebrate local heritage while addressing sustainability, Barcelona-based architecture firm Mesura designed the new Aesop store on Avinguda Diagonal, using salvaged stone fragments from the Montjuïc quarry. This project stands out as an example of how meaningful design can go beyond aesthetics, creating a timeless space rooted in cultural identity and sustainability. The approach highlights the store’s connection to Barcelona, prioritizing the use of local resources, reducing environmental impact, and resisting the effects of globalization.

The journey began in 2022 when Aesop first approached Mesura to design their second store in Barcelona, initially planned for a modernist building that ultimately became unavailable. After a prolonged hiatus, a new location was secured, and Aesop’s vision of a store that was “social, timeless, and local” was further enhanced by Mesura’s emphasis on sustainability. To fulfill this vision, Mesura’s designers turned to the historical stone of Montjuïc, a material known for its durability, resilience, and intrinsic link to Barcelona’s architectural heritage.

Stone Salvaged from History
The Montjuïc stone used in the project is rich in history, extracted from the quarry for use in many of Barcelona’s historic buildings from the 6th century BC until the 20th century. Although this unique stone is no longer actively quarried, the Barbany family—renowned stonemasons with a 130-year legacy—had preserved remnants of demolished buildings, storing them in an abandoned quarry. These fragments, once part of structures in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, fountains, archways, and pedestals, became the foundation for Aesop’s new store, embodying both the past and the future of the city.

The Barbany family’s collection of Montjuïc stone fragments included pieces shaped by various experimental processes. This added a layer of unpredictability and charm to the project, with each fragment bearing unique forms, perforations, and marks that highlighted its journey through time. The stones were gathered and assembled through a creative process Mesura termed “Creative Anastylosis,” an inversion of the traditional design approach. Instead of starting with a fixed design concept, the team began with available materials, designing the store around the unique forms of the salvaged stones.

Sustainable and Purposeful Design
The project’s central feature is a series of stone assemblies that define the store’s key areas, including where Aesop’s signature sinks are located, creating a focal point for the ritual experience of using their products. The emphasis was on minimal intervention—the stones were left largely unmodified, preserving their natural qualities while requiring less energy for reshaping or processing. This approach further supports sustainable practices by embracing the existing form of materials and reducing waste.

To construct the store, Mesura catalogued 78 individual stone pieces and used an on-site trial-and-error method to determine their arrangement. The construction involved assembling a full-scale mock-up at the Barbany workshop to ensure that the pieces, with their varying shapes and sizes, could be placed safely and effectively in the compact retail space. Once finalized, the stones were numbered, palletized, and meticulously assembled on-site.

Contrasting with the raw texture of the stone elements, the rest of the store is designed to be subtle and neutral. The textured stucco walls, refined stucco ceiling, and sleek flooring serve as a backdrop to let the salvaged stone take centre stage. Stainless steel fixtures provide functionality while enhancing the natural beauty and weight of the stone, creating a delicate interplay between roughness and refinement.

Celebrating the Genius Loci
With this project, Mesura sought to capture the Genius Loci—the protective spirit of a place—to create a store that could only exist in Barcelona. The reuse of Montjuïc stone exemplifies the idea of a material life cycle, where elements with past lives are repurposed for new use. If the store eventually closes, the stones will return to the Barbany family, ready for a future purpose, thereby extending the life of these historical fragments even further.

This project offers a valuable lesson for architects, interior designers, and product designers interested in sustainable material sourcing, circularity, and biobased materials. By embracing the unique character of local, salvaged materials, Mesura’s design for Aesop’s new store stands as a powerful statement against the homogenization of retail spaces driven by globalization, demonstrating that sustainability and cultural identity can go hand in hand.

Source: Dezeen.com / Mesura
Photos: Maxime Delvaux, Mesura