Located on Harrington Road in Chennai, the 3,500 sq ft To:morrow Store reimagines the conventional fashion retail experience as an immersive, futuristic destination. Designed by architect Suny Akber, the store was conceived not simply as a place to shop, but as a space people would visit for the experience itself.
Project Name: Tomorrow Store
Studio Name: Feel & Bari
Location: Harrington Road, Chennai
Size: 3,500 sq. ft.
Photography: Chasing Pixels
The client, a fashion retailer looking to move away from predictable retail interiors, envisioned an environment that would feel otherworldly and distinct from anything else in Chennai, or even India.
The brief called for a futuristic and experiential store for women’s fashion, with a dedicated section for boys, where architecture, lighting and materiality would take precedence over conventional product display. The ambition was to create a cohesive environment across multiple levels, with a strong visual presence that could be recognised from the street.
The experience begins at a touch-activated automated entrance, where placing a hand on the door triggers a wave of light across its surface, drawing inspiration from gaming interfaces. Inside, an open-plan layout brings together mirrors, metal, acrylic and programmable lighting to create a cinematic sequence of spaces. Metallic finishes, black and grey tones, transparent surfaces and controlled neon accents establish the store’s futuristic visual language. Mirror panels and infinity-mirror effects extend across the ceiling, while custom display racks are suspended directly from the existing structural ceiling, eliminating conventional floor-supported fixtures.
Despite being housed within an older structure with uneven floor levels, the store is organised to create a sense of continuity between its different zones. The entrance features an infinity-mirror wall and metallic mannequin, leading into the women’s collection and then the boys’ section, marked by a playful Pac-Man-inspired accent wall. An existing central column has been transformed into a glowing display unit for handbags, perfumes and eyewear, with integrated strip lighting and seating at its base. Even the bathroom becomes part of the experience, finished entirely in black and animated with kinetic lighting, to the point that customers often ask to use it simply to see the space.
Lighting forms the heart of the design. Fully automated and programmed to respond to different times of day, the system shifts from a daylight-like atmosphere in the morning to more dramatic, atmospheric tones at night. Acrylic furniture appears to glow from within, while programmable LED strips introduce changing colour and movement throughout the store.
Every major element, from display racks and seating stools to the reception desk, has been custom-designed and imported. Metallic mannequins with integrated LEDs add another layer of theatricality, while mirrors are used in multiple forms across ceilings, furniture and infinity installations. Acrylic surfaces are illuminated from within using metal troughs fitted with programmable LED strips, creating a retail environment that is as much about spatial experience as it is about fashion.
The design ultimately reflects a client brief that was deliberately uncompromising: to create a store that would be unlike anything else in the city. That ambition has already translated into the store becoming a recognisable landmark on Harrington Road. Today, the simplest way to locate it is perhaps also the most fitting: “Look for the To:morrow store.”
