MANERA Turns a Medellín Children's Store Into a Mini Amphitheater

A 170-square-metre children's store in Medellín, Colombia, has been reorganized around a single move: a U-shaped opening onto a double-height void. Designed by atelier MANERA and dated 2026, the project — simply called U-shaped Store — uses that central volume as the organizing element for everything else.

Maria Fernanda Serna and Victor Maréchal led the design. In the text description they provided, the architects frame the store as an exploration of the relationship between retail space, scenography, and architecture. The result, they say, is a flexible environment built around a central void rather than a conventional shop layout.

How does the U shape actually work?

The main area of the store is structured around the U-shaped opening onto a double-height space. That central volume becomes what the architects call the organizing element of the project, allowing for a wide range of scenographies, spatial configurations, and uses.

Inside that frame, a metal structure and a series of platforms define the outline of a raised stage at the center of the layout. The architects describe it as a space that can accommodate different activities and displays — a stage set that changes with whatever the store needs it to be.

What does the furniture do?

The most striking gesture is amphitheater-like. Wooden furniture unfolds around the central void, reinterpreting the principle of tiered seating through a variety of forms and configurations, according to the architects' description.

This furniture is not just furniture. The architects state that it becomes an architectural element in its own right, simultaneously defining circulation, display surfaces, and places to sit. In other words, the steps are the shelving, the seating, and the walkway all at once.

For a children's store, that dual role matters. Tiered wooden forms give kids somewhere to climb and sit while doubling as display surfaces for merchandise — retail infrastructure and playscape in a single system.

Why it breaks from standard retail design

Through this arrangement, the project moves beyond the conventional organization of a retail interior, the architects write. What they propose instead is a spatial framework in which architecture, furniture, and scenography become closely intertwined.

The drawing set published with the project backs that claim. It includes a plan, a section, two axonometric views, and a dedicated set of furniture diagrams — a signal that the millwork and the building logic were designed as one system rather than as separate packages.

Juan Camilo Roa photographed the completed store, and ArchDaily published the project on November 1, 2026.

The project's larger point is about adaptability. A store organized around a void and tiered furniture can be reconfigured for events, displays, and activities without a refit — a model that treats retail interiors as stage sets with a longer shelf life than a standard fit-out.