Control Z set out to rethink how we consume the defining artefact of the 21st century: the phone. In a world where phone models go out of style each year, the cost isn’t just financial—it’s environmental. The brand’s mission is to counteract this by refurbishing older phones, extending their life cycles, and making premium devices accessible at lower price points.
The brief was to translate that mission into architecture—for their first retail store.
The design needed to echo their ethos: raw, transparent, and in motion.
Rather than hide the mechanics behind sleek surfaces, the store reveals its process. Tools from their refurbishment labs line the walls. The floor is laid in unpolished Kota stone; the walls finished in lime—materials chosen not just for their honesty, but for their low embodied energy. The goal? To bring the energy of the workshop to the street. To let people see how things are made, fixed, and reimagined.
It’s a deliberate break from retail minimalism. Instead of pristine displays and polish, the store feels alive—mid-assembly, mid-idea. Like the phones it houses, it’s a space of revival, not replacement.
