The warm up

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A rendering of the project.

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The designers went with ‘broken white’ flooring.

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A translucent panel was selected for the cash desk.

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An rendering shows the clean colour palette.

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The design had to counter a very high ceiling.

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This is reflective of how the whole Super Care experience has become that little bit more interactive. "We've put screens in the pillars. They can be used to advertise products but also to provide information on health and so on. There are also touch screens where you can actually print off any information that you need," said Veldman.

Mighty lights

But the project's piece de resistance, according to both Veldman and Lubonski, is the lighting. It was essential to draw attention to the products by lighting them effectively, but there was also the danger of over-lighting and impersonalising an already large space.

"Lighting is the signature element," Veldman said. "The lighting was one of the biggest things for this project because products in a pharmacy obviously need to be well it but, again, we didn't want to wash the whole shop in fluorescent light. So, we really spent a lot of time trying to get the lighting on the products and not so much in the rest of the space," Veldman explained.

In response, Bluehaus designed large, suspended, fabric-enclosed light features that direct the light on to the product without overwhelming the rest of the shop. "They give off a lot of light but are not illuminating the whole place. They light up the pods and spread some light around but not as much as if you had fluorescent lights all over the show. We used Barisol, a stretch fabric. The contractor actually made the light and then stretched the fabric around it.

"We talked about putting different coloured lights in there so you could change the lighting colour. They wanted to go with white for the start but after that they can opt for blue lighting instead, for example."

Having the lighting solution coming down from the ceilings enabled Bluehaus to overcome another spatial challenge: the height of the ceiling. "It's a high ceiling, so we had to think about what we were doing up there and not just down here," said Veldman.

Combined with recessed spotlights, recessed luminaires, and pendants from Ansorg Lighting, the overall lighting has been lauded by the client. "I think the lighting is fantastic and I like they way they have done it without a false ceiling," said Lubonski.

The project was an important milestone for Super Care, and an undeniable success, she pointed out. "We want to be a one-stop shop and leader in the pharmacy and wellness industries, so this is a big store for us. And I see us continuing with this model and building on it," Lubonski concluded.

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