With over 1600 years of history, the City of Linhai in Zhejiang Province in China has a rich historical heritage. The ancient city wall of Taizhou prefecture was built during the Jin dynasty. The Longxing Temple was where the Japanese monk was ordained. The four pagodas on Jin Hill were constructed in Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Other historical sites include Ziyang Street, (Qi) Jiguang Street and Luo Binwang Ancestral Hall. On Ziyang Street, a new creative store called Jiangnan ZAN was opened. It is the first store of the unique cultural tourism ip “poetry and painting Jiangnan” created by Zhejiang Ancient Villages Protection and Utilization Fund and Huaxu Culture, one of the promoters of artistic creation in the forbidden city. LYCS Architecture carried out the architecture, interior, and exhibition design.
"Wave" in the ancient city
The design concept proposed by the design team is "wave." By placing abstracted wave elements inside the old structure, the contrast between old and new forms a surreal art scene, conveying a young spiritual attitude of riding the waves and being cynical, forming a rich, diverse, and atmospheric pouring interesting space.
The design concept also echoes the waves rushing in the Ling River outside Linhai City. It is because of the flooding in the river that the ancient city walls, which serve both flood control functions, have been preserved for thousands of years in a densely populated area.
Immersive shopping experience
The notion of the wave is also integrated into the design team's thinking about retail architecture. How to maximize the use of space under the rent of every inch of land is an old problem faced by retail stores. The designers use the wave element, blurring the wall, floor, ground, and roof partition, breaking the layer concept, and reconstructing the space system. The two-stories space was turned into a continuous space, bringing a unique experience like surfing between giant waves, forming an immersive shopping experience.
Design the old as new
The design team removed the redundant walls and exposed the original wood structure and wall materials. Then continuous white curved surfaces were placed between the beams and columns as if they were leaping waves, hiding the equipment pipelines, strong and weak electric lines, etc., making it more pure and simple within the sight line. The edge of the curved surface is designed with layers to reduce the sense of volume and enhance the sense of speed. The linear light strip is used to stroke the edge. The light is lit to illuminate the giant wave and the wooden column, forming a strong visual collision.
The design team removed all the windows and doors along the street and replaced them with black stainless steel frames with large floor-to-ceiling windows and doors, making the originally dim and narrow space bright and transparent, with huge waves gushing out from the second floor, injecting modern flavor into the ancient street and making the store stand out from Ziyang Street.
Materials and exhibition stands
The design team wanted the wave to continue to the ground, and after trying metal and paint, they chose durable terrazzo to form a closed loop of space. The white elements naturally distinguish the store into eight exhibition areas, each highlighting a unique personality. For the display design of the eight exhibition areas, the design team made an integrated design based on the concept of waves, using metal and wood finishes, and designed variable components such as adjustable partitions, freely arranged brackets, and flexible cavity boards to adapt to the needs of retail stores with a wide variety of products and seasonal updates.
Jiangnan Retail Store became the old town's new cultural and creative booster, bringing young people back to the ancient streets by injecting new vitality.
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