Steel, concrete and coffee: The new look for cyclists

An organic-shaped lounge suite, coffee table stacked with books and magazines, espresso machine and a screen showing cycling races all over the world add an unusual air of domesticity to MAAP’s refurbished store in Collingwood.

The cycling apparel brand, which opened its first store a couple of years ago, now has 10 stores worldwide, including in Berlin, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Los Angeles and, most recently, London.

Part of MAAP’s aesthetic, beyond its fashion and accessory collections, is to create a meeting place for cyclists to gather on their bikes first thing in the morning for a peloton ride through Melbourne’s streets before returning for a coffee.

The brand’s founders have a fashion and graphic design background. Their refurbished store was designed by Clare Cousins Architects, a practice often synonymous with bespoke housing. It’s a long way from being a prosaic cycling shop with a few clothes displayed on racks. “This space is geared to the cyclist,” says Oliver Duff, director of architecture at the practice. “It was also an appropriate location for the first bricks and mortar store,” says Duff, pointing out the bike path along Wellington Street.

The architects inherited a 170-square-metre shell, with 4.5-metre-high walls and concrete ceilings and floors. It now features a new stainless-steel layer. Perforated steel panels add a robust feel to the store, as does the industrial-style lighting that straddles the exposed ceilings with its pipes and services.

“Given it’s a place for the community of cyclists to meet, we also wanted to introduce a softer, more domestic feel to the store,” says Duff, referring to the lounge suite and coffee table. The Italian coffee machine, perched on a concrete bench, also adds a level of domesticity.

The Collingwood store’s colour palette is soft powder blue for the shelving – originally scaffolding – and change rooms’ curtains, together with olive green for some of the joinery. Trolley-like units, powder-coated in olive green, also allow the space to be flexible; with up to 25 cyclists arriving in the morning, there is a need for a large entrance/arrival point.

MAAP’s other stores have their own individual splashes of colour: pink and orange in Hong Kong and Yves Klein blue in Taipei. And unlike most stores connected to cycling, here the approach is more akin to a boutique, with a bicycle attached to one wall treated more like a piece of sculpture.

“We wanted to save most of the colour for the clothing, whether it’s bikewear or streetwear,” says Duff, who points out that the fashion is all designed in-house and exported to the 10 shops worldwide.

Steel walls against concrete aren’t too challenging for most architects to create but Clare Cousins Architects was keen to stretch the genre; hence, some walls are concertinaed while others at the rear of the store have a greater sense of plasticity, celebrating curves and responding to the need to create a more tactile environment.

Cyclists visiting MAAP will certainly be impressed by the store’s aesthetic as much as its performance. You don’t have to settle for a grungy environment just because you are a keen cyclist, and for enthusiasts, it brings the community together in a bespoke space that suits their sport.

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