Louis Vuitton at Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse — Louis Vuitton Nike Air Force 1 Exhibitio (2022)

Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse in Brooklyn hosted an exhibition of 47 Louis Vuitton and Nike Air Force 1 editions by Virgil Abloh, staged as an imaginary city.

The venue

Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse is a former industrial warehouse on the Brooklyn waterfront in Greenpoint, New York. It retains an open interior with exposed structure and high ceilings from its shipping and manufacturing past. The building is now used as an events and exhibition venue, hired for installations, fairs, shoots and productions that need an unfinished, flexible floor rather than a finished gallery.

How the space was used

For the Air Force 1 project the warehouse floor was built out as an imaginary city, with set pieces referencing the designer's show and campaign imagery. The 47 editions were placed through these zones, so visitors moved between constructed environments rather than past a conventional display. A WeChat mini-program carried a parallel version of the experience to audiences in China.

Why it works here

Warehouses of this kind suit exhibitions built around scenography: an unfinished shell can be turned into a themed environment without competing architecture, and the floor lets visitors walk a route rather than read a wall. The Brooklyn location also keeps the project separate from Manhattan retail space, which suits a presentation staged as an exhibition rather than a shop.