Akin Barber & Shop, Dubai

The Akin Barber & Shop, designed by Jonathan Ashmore, Founder of ANARCHITECT, and Tarik Al Zaharna, Founder of T.ZED Architects, is the creation of a handpicked collective of Dubai based, home-grown entrepreneurs chosen to bring passion and commitment to the project with a unified desire to realise something individual and inspiring in Dubai. The name Akin came from the idea of a brotherhood (of the same kin) of like-minded people who appreciate craftsmanship, fine details and beautiful aesthetics.

“The Barber & Shop project was first imagined by our client, Leith Matthews, who had identified an opportunity and was in the process of securing a really great location (Burj Al Salam) when we had our initial project discussions,” says Jonathan Ashmore, Founder, Anarchitect. “Created by a group of like-minded people who strive to live an enriched and enjoyable lifestyle without taking it all too seriously, the tag line – We are Akin – fittingly represents the people involved and the clientele, who had already stepped through the shop door even before we officially opened it.”

Having previously worked with Matthews on a collaboration commissioned for Art Dubai in 2012, Jonathan Ashmore and Tarik Al Zaharna, were intrigued by the idea and felt that there was a unique opportunity to design and create a beautifully crafted piece of small-scale architecture within the limited 35 square meter space. According to Ashmore, the aesthetics are the result of a rigorous design and making process that represents a hand-crafted and tactile architecture focused around function and layered intervention.

“Responding to the brief, we wanted to reinterpret traditional barber shop elements,” adds Tarik Al Zaharna. With this in mind, the architects took contextual inspiration from lightweight beach structures and understood and respected that they were also working within an existing urban space. Instead of hiding the existing, the architects chose to frame the space with a solid American ash structural insertion. This formed a space within a space that expressed the different material layers and created a sense of height and lightness, whilst defining new but permeable boundaries.

The planning of the space was driven by the programme. The recessed shop front is a nod to tradition, yet it also creates a buffer between the main building lobby and the Akin Barber & Shop to ensure that the skilful Barber’s are not disturbed or cross paths with people entering the shop perpendicular to the main axis.

Material, detail and lighting are the most important elements of Anarchitect’s interior architecture. They used solid American ash custom joinery with an open grain to highlight a juxtaposition between the natural material and the brutality of the man-made existing concrete. The precise edges of powder-coated aluminium panels were used to frame transitions and junctions between different primary materials used in the space.

The architects went with barbershop tradition with an inset brushed-brass Akin logo within the marble lobby floor and used black and white hexagonal mosaic tiles to identify the barbering area of the shop for both function and practicality. Key Akin collaborations include custom lighting projectors and recessed spots by PSLAB in Beirut and the elegant ‘Air’ ceiling fan by Boffi in Italy. The entire space is custom designed and handmade in the UAE, including the sinks, which were made locally from Corian.

“As a design driven practice, we were inspired by the contextually rich and niche retail spaces so beautifully executed by the cosmetic brand Aesop and their collaborations with architects globally. We set out to achieve the same high-quality impact with Akin, to tie together the design and programme to create a piece of unique contextual design in a very tight space,” adds Ashmore. “We spent a lot of time designing all the timber detailing so they were robust, consistent and worked with standard timber section sizes to make it more efficient for material wastage and so that the contractor could produce the framing relatively quickly in their timber workshop.”

“We referenced Japanese style joinery techniques to find a way of maintaining robustness while being able to span 4 meters across the space without any bowing occurring,” adds Al Zaharna.

The architect’s concept originally came from lightweight structures that are permeable and create space/containment without walls. They looked at methods of wall and floor construction in timber frame-houses and felt the need to express both the natural materiality and structural integrity of the solid ash in the Akin Barber & Shop. All of the framing is solid American ash, the wall datum panels and the barber stations are engineered with ash veneer and the chevron flooring is engineered American white oak to add a subtle contrast in colour and increase texture to that of the ash.

The American ash was sourced by the main contractor on the project – Neo-Matrix – based in Dubai. The team worked closely with them to select the right samples, applied finish and to also look at mock-ups of the bespoke design joints. The major challenge was the span of the self-supporting beams, which made it necessary for them to work with solid timber, which is less commonly used in Dubai, as it can be more expensive than using man-made boards with applied veneer finishes.

“Akin’s barbers are craftsman, they are precise, detailed and constantly strive to perfect their skill. We believed that the space should not only reflect this but inspire it through materiality, craft and detail, with a shop that is built to last and that effortlessly functions to support the growth of Akin. For Akin clients, who come back time and time again, they will always discover a new detail each time they sit and recline back in the barber’s chair,” adds Ashmore.

“At a closer look, visitors will notice that a tailored approach is carried through from the service, to the architecture and details. A story is told by creating a journey through the space, from being seated on the custom-built bench near the entrance, to being guided to the barber chair, and finally viewing the products on display at the end. We were very conscious about material finishes as we have created an engaging environment where all surfaces and finishes were to be used and touched,” concludes Al Zaharna.