Prada, world-renowned fashion retailer, wanted Architect Rem Koolhaas and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture to totally re-think the shopping experience to create a handful of stores that would, through flexible interiors and digital wizardry, continuously support the mystique of the Prada brand. In designing Prada’s flagship store in Manhattan, the architectural goal was to open up the space in a 100-year old building in NYC’s cast-iron district, and do so minimally. LERA designed new and imaginative bracing systems and accomplished transfer of existing columns and portions of a three-foot thick masonry load-bearing wall without disruption to the tenants in the six floors above and the Prince Street subway station below.