BFG Concept
office and showroom, Shanghai
“Seamlessly curved spaces"
BFG Concept is a Shanghai-based company, fashion-oriented, which is specialized in the development and manufacture of high-end woven and soft garments.
We were commissioned to design BFG’s new headquarter, when it was time for the company to move to a bigger location on the sixth floor of Oriental Pearl Triumph Center; the client required us to create an office and showroom.
The project uses a sequence of sinuous volumes that adapt to the curves of the building’s floor plan, and interact dynamically within the area; it is therefore possible to reduce the typical corridor-office organization and obtain a more dynamic flow path. The variety of relations between the volumes generates different kinds of spaces for the functions to be located: the reception, for example, is obtained from the void between two curved volumes, the manager and the designer's offices, on the other hand, are very privately and discreetly enclosed, while the staff area and the glass meeting room that overlooks it are more hybrid.
The showroom, with the main access separate from the office, is a theatrical open space surrounded by the glass façade, symmetrically organized around a strong focal view that leads to the meeting table.
Like an ephemeral installation, hanging clothes racks and muted volumes mark the paths for the customers, and a sinuous line of racks wraps continuously the whole room.
We chose a contemporary style, sober and elegant, which matches the brand identity of BFG Concept; the color palette of neutral tones, from cement-like and white painted walls, to light brown wood and cement tiles floors, creates a soothing environment, and a visual story that continues seamlessly through the space; we used some black metal details mainly in lights and furniture, as a contrast, to accentuate the design’s lines and flow paths. The alternation between closed white refined ceilings and black open ceilings is essential to emphasize the volumes and to distinguish public and private areas.