The Royal Academy of Art:

The RA:

The gift shop displays work like a library, gallery and museum.
This forms a narrative
Poster Bar taps into the district’s history of Coffee shops
Blurs the boundary between consumption of coffee and the consumption of culture
At the time(1950s/60s) coffee houses were perceived as civilised-women were banned so only male writers, politicians, journalists and poets could gather to discuss the issues of the day

Retail and the Shopping Experience:

Men-bar, barbers, socks etc

Women-Perfume counter, jewellery section etc

Flaneur a French term meaning stroller or loafer used by 19^th century French poet Charles Baudelaire to identify an observer of modern urban life

The Arcades:

Arcade stands for a covered area of passage in which there are shops connected on one side to the other containing columns and arches.
The Burlington Arcade was built in 1818/19 at the request of Lord George Cavendish later Earl of Burlington so his wife could shop safely away from the busy and dirty crime ridden open streets.
It is 196 yards long vast space inspired by the Architectural Colonnades and the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles
They first became popular in Paris where Walter Benjamin said they ‘rewired’ the sterile city grid
The floating adverts, signs and light create as described by Benjamin a ‘collective dream’
Appear like a representation of modern society like Instagram and its busy full of information land scape
Arcade through Benjamin’s research act as a pivotal moment in social history-the point ‘when society became focused on consumption and over production’
They created a dulling of the senses in his opinion

History Week 9/10-Piccadilly