Cabana Shanghai JAKC Store Cabana上海静安嘉里中心店

Shortly after the completion of Cabana Store at Sanlitun in Beijing, we started designing their new location in Cabana Shanghai JAKC Store. After a few months of trial run, the client finalised an appropriate display style and space layout. In terms of the typology of the display space, instead of a museum-like or mall-like large-scale space, a scale and proportion referring to a living space was chosen to bring the visitors into an intimate space where they can resonate with scenes of daily life. In this sense, Cabana Shanghai JAKC Store is rather a sequence of display spaces, which creates a “wandering” experience with a constantly changing view.

Entering Cabana Shanghai JAKC Store from the main entrance on Anyi Road, one will be greeted by an unconventional foyer – it is not quite big, only the staircase is suggesting a possible extension of the space. It doesn’t fall into any stereotype of a typical “furniture store”: there is no conventional furniture display, no cashier’s desk, design and art books are lined up on the iconic USM shelves.

Up the stairs to the second floor, rooms of various scales and proportions are laid out one next to another, divided by a series of interlaced walls. The walls are either made of plain perforated bricks or cladded with marble plates, walnut or coarse texture paint, enclose rooms of different atmospheres. Gaps and openings between the walls define a meandering, smooth traffic flow. The rooms are all in regular geometric form – square or round, with occasional triangular or curved niches embedded in the walls, breaking the rigid composition. Inspired by the principle of “borrowing scenery” in traditional Chinese garden design, the encounter between walls of different materials and the openings formed by the particular masonry of brick walls not only enhance the visual connection of adjacent spaces, but also make wandering through the spaces a more playful experience: the niches, the sculptural forms of walls, and the changing patterns of the perforated bricks turned into critical points between spaces, guiding the visitors through the labyrinth and enriching the experience of exploration.

Compared with the “design bookstore” on the ground floor and the furniture display area on the second floor, the secluded display area of lighting is full of mystery. This area is separated from the “design bookstore” by an emergency route, and doesn’t seem like a public access area. To take its mysterious atmosphere a step further, we painted the entire area black and slotted interlaced, thick partitions in it, along with a huge sloping roof and mystifying black mirrors.

The materiality of an architectural project is often reflected through its structure or construction; while in an interior design project, the space interprets itself mostly through its surface. In this project, the refinement of materials is one of the most important parts of our design process. In Cabana Shanghai JAKC Store, one can find almost all the materials commonly found in residential spaces: perforated bricks, wood, metal, coarse-grained plaster, glass, acrylic, cement, and different kinds of marble. A variety of colors, patterns, textures, temperatures, tactility and opacity are superimposed in the space, creating a rich mixture of moods and atmospheres. Though meanwhile, to avoid a messy visual effect, the combination of materials in each individual area is relatively simple: the walls comprise only one or two materials. The tone of each space is determined by the texture of paint, the pattern of marble, the texture of walnut, the openings of perforated bricks and the rhythm of masonry; While the ceiling and floor of the same material run through all the continuous spaces, bringing in a consistent tone – nuances of grey and a rich, deep red, regulating the subtle diffusion of light, creating a gentle, cheerful atmosphere. The changing form of the ceilings and the concrete floors with occasional marble inlays echo the variety of wall materials, becoming the footnote of each space in the continuous meta-surface.