Samba-style: Frozen yoghurt shop’s new rhythm

Gone is the cartoonish typography and green exterior. In its place is a space embedded with clever lighting and a pulsing energy, reflecting the Brazilian inspiration. The exterior alludes to the geometric and colourfully painted Rio de Janeiro favelas, while the inside is a criss-cross of neon lighting which leads customers to Samba Swirl’s self-serve yoghurt stations.

‘The lighting has a dual function,’ Jonathan Mizzi, studio director of Mizzi, tells LS:N Global. ‘It serves as an immersive 3D wayfinder system that lures you into the store, directing you straight to the yoghurt cubicles and then to the cash tills while passing the toppings island. Yet, at the same time, the intention was to recreate the colourful geometric exterior textures found in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.’

The 360-degree lighting set-up makes consumers feel as if they have stepped into a vector map. For more on how designers are using mathematical grids as reference points, see our Vectorism design direction.