When the Human Rights Campaign, a non-profit gay rights advocacy group, went to look for a design firm to plan their new retail space, they didn’t have to go very far. Their San Francisco retail location owed a part of its success to TRIO Display’s space-economical layout and design, and continuity in look and feel between the stores was a priority, so once again TRIO was retained to design a new HRC location.

The new location is the second story of a Washington, D.C., brownstone. As before, area is at premium, what with only a spare 800 square feet to display HRC’s jewelry, hoodies, totes, etc.

“There’s an inherent challenge to designing a retail store into what was once a residential space. This proved no different,” said Bill Mondigo, TRIO Display Store Designer. “The ceilings are low and the HVAC unit is in a closet. In fact, we didn’t want to give up the retail space on the door to the HVAC, so we added shelving to the front of it. We even found a way to optimize the panel leading to the circuit breakers with custom shelving.”

That wasn’t the end of the custom fitting. The design team created special custom soffits with special lighting intended to accentuate without overpowering. Shoehorning a fully realized clothing display into a small area is usually impossible without short-changing the overall design but a solution was found in a specially engineered raised dais incorporating a side-hang bar fixture and a mannequin platform.

The HRC assignment is all the much more amazing when you consider it is a mere three months between the time the design contract was signed with TRIO and the anticipated opening in mid-June. If you’re in the D.C. area, be sure to drop in.