With a style favoring visual connection and travel through spaces, the japanese design firm Nendo, led by Oki Sato, is completing the renovation of the Shanghai Times Square shopping center. Located in Pudong, Shanghai, China, the project covers a total area of approximately 53,200 m2 over 11 floors.
The building is designed to accommodate 170 tenants, including fashion brands, boutiques and restaurants. Wanting to open up the interior with a bright and usable space, the Nendo studio straightens the central passage of the ground floor for customers coming from the outside, while moving the escalators to secure circulation. A smooth shopping experience. The well-shaped atriums are rearranged to attract buyers to the gradually unveiled upper floors, creating an exciting journey. With this spatial configuration, the designers imitate the procedures in a theater: the successive acts of passing through the ticket office and the foyer, then going up to the upper levels to be greeted by a large theater. The screens made of aluminum pipes are inspired by the stage curtains covering the facade and atrium. An image reflecting the creation of the draping is applied to the main pillars and the finish of the stone walls. Nendo applies the arc-shaped motif that frames the front of a stage to partitions, furniture and lighting for added softness and privacy. Not to mention the break areas with seats jutting out towards the atrium and a VIP lounge. From the food court evoking a piano keyboard to a diverse workshop with a projector motif, the studio multiplies design elements reminiscent of a theater. The installation’s interior signage plan is designed like the separation of the curtains at the start of the show.