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Architects: Jakob + Macfarlane Architects
- Area: 1200 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Peter Dixie
Text description provided by the architects. Located in a vibrant fashion shopping area of Shanghai, this project was imagined as an urban theatre.
The design concept stems from the idea of a flexible space opening up to create a big volume that brings to mind a theatre or a train station. It was intended as a spectacular showcase of public life, and notably of urban fashion.
With its long storefront facing a major boulevard and a narrower facade looking onto a side street, the project offers two different visual experiences: A dazzling frontal view reveals the multi-layered interior, while the side facade hints at the coveted views from a theatre backstage.
Like an interior street, the ground floor runs along the boulevard and is equally suited for hosting fashion shows and displaying merchandise. A repeating structural module creates unique settings within the larger space of the store. Parts of these modules reach outside, jutting out from the facade.
Functionally, the modules act as a unifying framework that integrates everything from staircases to changing rooms and from countertops to merchandise displays. Metaphorically, we see it as the skeleton for a new fashion body – sophisticated and poetic.
