Architecture practice Minimal Studio has unveiled an extraordinary supermarket design in Mallorca, Spain, that challenges conventional retail environments. The Plastic Box store, located in the Port of Pollensa, features a striking minimalist concrete interior topped with an innovative ceiling installation made from 1,200 recycled plastic crates. Studio founder Juan David Martínez Jofre describes the project as "a brutalist art gallery disguised as a supermarket."
The 193-square-meter fully functioning store represents a radical departure from traditional supermarket design. Minimal Studio stripped away all previous finishes to expose the building's raw concrete structure, creating what Jofre calls a "raw concrete envelope." The design philosophy focused on reducing the structure to its essence, replacing conventional commercial elements with an exhibition-like experience that guides visitors through visual sequences rather than traditional aisles.
"The transformation stripped away every trace of commercial language, leaving only architecture, material, and light to tell the story," Jofre explained. The studio used exposed concrete throughout the interior, creating monolithic concrete tables and shelving systems that serve both functional and aesthetic purposes. According to Jofre, concrete was chosen because it "embodies control and truth" and "anchors the space emotionally and visually, counterbalancing the volatility of plastic and the ephemerality of packaging."
The most striking feature of the store is its sculptural ceiling installation composed of 1,200 recycled plastic crates sourced from local food distribution networks. These crates serve multiple practical functions beyond their visual impact, housing LED lighting systems, ventilation equipment, and rainwater collection devices. "Once suspended and illuminated, they create a floating grid of reflections and shadow, a luminous membrane that filters light like a living sculpture," Jofre described.
Minimal Studio complemented the exposed concrete with carefully selected industrial materials including stainless steel, translucent polycarbonate, and recycled plastic panels. Each material was chosen for its ability to distort light and dissolve physical boundaries, creating what Jofre describes as "an immersive atmosphere – reflective, industrial, and ethereal at once." The result is a hybrid environment that feels heavy in structure yet light in perception.
The color palette throughout the space remains deliberately neutral and muted, featuring grey, beige, and pale sage green hues that form a discrete background for the colorful packaging of supermarket goods. This approach transforms the products themselves into artistic elements, with packaging becoming frames, products becoming artwork, and light serving as the curator of the entire experience.
According to Jofre, the innovative design has received positive reactions from shoppers, triggering "curiosity, introspection, and calm, far removed from the typical retail environment." The project demonstrates how functional commercial spaces can be reimagined as immersive environments where consumption, reflection, and material excess converge. The photography documenting the project was completed by Leonardo Cóndor, showcasing how the space transforms ordinary grocery shopping into an artistic experience.
