Ravinia Festival Gift Shop

In conjunction with the addition of a new dining pavilion and gift shop building, the Women’s Board of Ravinia Festival sought a designer who understood how to design for cultural institutions. The Board commissioned Charles Sparks + Company to design an 800-square-foot shop, which reflects the unique character of this storied music and event destination located in Highland Park, Illinois that draws visitors from a vast area in and around Chicagoland to some 130 events over 100 days.

For the first time in its history, Ravinia has a walk-in shop and a visitor friendly adjacency to the dining pavilion. The shop was designed to enhance the Ravinia experience and be engaging of the public during those peak traffic periods prior to or following the season’s concerts. With large crowds visiting the pavilion from their positions on the lawns outside for the concerts, there is only a narrow window of time visitors have to browse. The merchandised floor fixtures, cash wrap checkout counter, and floor plan were designed for ease, speed, and convenience in the selection and transaction process. The perimeter design organizes an eclectic product mix into “stories” of related product whether it’s a variety of weather gear, picnic-on-the-lawn items, apparel, CDs, books, or unique giftables as memorabilia from the Ravinia experience.

Sparks’ approach was to create the sense of a dynamic relationship with the merchandise. Walls include a staggered pattern of niches inspired by the way notes move up and down on a scale. There is a contrast of light and dark wood on tables and walls, a subtle reference to the contrasts found on a keyboard. A digital graphic frieze was developed along the upper wall, which depicts the feeling of light through the trees at dusk and the silhouette of people in the park. This “animation of space,” as Charles Sparks calls it, results in a stimulating environment, reinforcing that visitors are already pre-disposed for a fun experience at the park.