Zara has opened a global flagship store in its Spanish home market.

The new Zara Coruna flagship is located on calle Compostela 3, one of the city’s prime shopping streets and is located in a refurbished and preserved historic building characterised by broad windows and balconies.

The store has 2400 sqm of shop floor space divided over five floors that will showcase all of Zara’s collections for women, men and children. The building has another two storeys set aside for storage and staff quarters. In all, the property comprises a floor area of 4900 sqm with access onto calle Compostela and calle Sánchez Bregua, effectively turning the store into a new ‘enclosed’ alleyway which will bring life in both these city centre districts together.

The design, overseen by local architect Elsa Urquijo, focused on capturing the essence of the city, its light and its hallmark aesthetics, combined with the four trademarks that define Zara’s architectural philosophy: beauty, clarity, functionality and sustainability. The facades have been carefully preserved, highlighting their materials and the city’s eye-catching verandas and balconies. Inside, the calle Compostela entrance stands out for its imposing atrium, some seven metres tall, which welcomes the store’s visitors, beckoning them to explore its diaphanous and light spaces. The materials predominating the entire shopping area are the stone and wood that characterise Galician architecture, albeit nuanced subtly by the light filtering in from outside at each level through the building’s impressive balconies.

The store fittings, custom-designed for the new flagship, add to the sensation of lightness and brightness that characterises the whole project. Garments are hung from simple linear metallic structures along the walls, while the central fittings stand out for their blocks of solid stone and wood in pale tones that play with the light that filters into the shop’s interior all day long through the various balconies.