PROJECT: SORT Lifestyle Multi-Brand Shop

Chengdu China 2016

This multi-brand shop collects nearly 30 international life style brands, which include HAY, MENU, MUUTO, Tom Dixon, MAGIS, ferm LIVING, Bloomingville, Kvadrat, GEORG JENSEN, DESIGN LETTERS, BANG & OLUFSEN and so on. It is located in a shopping mall basement. The plan of the space is similar to an L shape, with a wide opening facing the shopping mall public corridor, and a long narrow space as deep as 22 meters. Different from normal storefronts in the shopping mall no glass partitions are designed at the shop entrance, so that all the products displays are directly faced to the passers-by, people feel attracted and welcomed to step into the shop.

Besides the shop the brief was asking for a café inside, instead of placing the café counters at the entrance blocking the view into the shop, they are designed along the long wall, releasing the wide entrance space for products display and café sitting area.

At the end of the café counters, a dining area is designed for dining furniture and products display. Next to it are open kitchen counters and cupboards for storage use. They are designed to be in dark grey color with lighting strips integrated to mark the end of the 22m deep space, and to attract people’s viewing perspective to reach the depth of the shop.

The space goes up to 6m high in front of the café counters, where the back lit white membrane is used for the soffit ceiling to give people a feeling of natural light, making the notion of the underground space fading away. The vertical wall right underneath the back lit ceiling is cement finished, where three pieces of seating furniture are hung, becoming the focal point of the overall shop.

Track lights are provided to serve the flexibility of the space, making it possible to change the layout and the products display in the shop once in a while.