Analysis of Space Design Aesthetics
The "To Summer Living Room" on the first floor of the basement of the North District of Taikoo Li Sanlitun, Beijing, is the first offline flagship store of the oriental aromatherapy brand To Summer in China, designed by FOG Architecture . The overall space is built around the concept of "modern cave". Through the combination of streamlined lines and curved shapes , visitors are guided to freely explore along the circular path; a large number of mirror elements and clever light, material and color matching create an immersive atmosphere that attracts people to linger . This design language fully echoes the "living room" atmosphere that the brand hopes to present - that is, an emotional space between home and social, communication and comfort, which makes people feel relaxed and comforted .
The entrance facade boldly abandons the traditional transparent window and replaces it with a rough textured gray imitation stone wall doorway to strengthen the "cave" image. This doorway was hand-carved by a stone carving artist, delicately restoring the texture of the natural rock wall . The indoor floor is raised as a whole, and a nano-mirror stainless steel screen is erected at the door , blocking most of the store openings, leaving only narrow guide passages on both sides, isolating the noise and busyness of the mall, creating a quiet transition as if entering a private territory . When customers "drill into" this cave living room, the hustle and bustle gradually fades away, the light turns soft, as if instantly wrapped in heaven and earth, and a sense of inner security arises spontaneously .
Entering the store, you will see a continuous undulating water ripple curved wall , which glows with a soft luster like pond ripples under professional lighting, reflecting each other with mirrors everywhere . This water ripple shape originates from the pond in the summer evening and is one of the main elements in the brand's visual . The design cleverly integrates it into the space, so that the inspiration of nature is presented in an artistic form, achieving a high degree of unity between the brand's tonality and the aesthetics of the space . The same ripple element appears repeatedly in display devices such as the central booth and the packaging design of Guanxia products , achieving consistency between the interior design and the brand image . In terms of material and color, the designer chooses warm white as the main tone wall, supplemented by rough imitation stone texture and textured seaweed mud coating, which contrasts and blends with the cold mirror metal . Light and shadow interweave and flow on the curved wall through mirror reflection, creating an open and quiet space atmosphere . This precise control of color and material not only gives the space a pure and soft temperament, but also echoes the beauty of harmonious coexistence of nature and man-made pursued by Guanxia's "Oriental New Modern" brand .
The entire interior layout is cleverly divided into the "living room" rest experience area in the front, the product display and retail area in the middle, the independent art installation area, and the cashier area in the back . The mirrored metal screen at the entrance echoes the curved wall and streamlined mirror inside, naturally dividing the front living room into several functional areas while keeping them connected . The design adopts a U -shaped circular movement line in the organization of the movement line. Visitors walk through it, and their pace naturally slows down and immerses themselves with the space flow and mirrored scenery, as if they are traveling through the scenes like a movie camera, which not only improves the efficiency of space utilization, but also makes people feel at ease . Although the product display area is only about 25 square meters, the products are successfully presented like works of art through the interaction between the central metal island, floating shelves and curved walls , leaving a strong brand imprint on customers . Overall, the space design of Guanxia flagship store creates an atmosphere between home and art gallery with a unique aesthetic approach , allowing customers to deeply experience the oriental artistic conception and emotional value conveyed by the brand under the guidance of multiple senses of smell and vision .
Difficulties in structural and process restoration
of Guanxia Living Room is a huge test of construction technology and details. In order to restore the design effect to the real space in a 1:1 ratio , each material and structural method has been repeatedly proofed and verified.
First of all, the imitation stone concrete texture of the facade needs to meet the rough look of the design and be feasible for actual construction. The construction team may have conducted multiple small sample trials to adjust the formula and process to get closer to the texture envisioned by the designer. The warm white seaweed mud paint used in large areas indoors also needs to be tested on samples for color saturation and texture effects to maintain a consistent visual appearance under different lighting conditions.
Secondly, the processing and installation of high-gloss materials such as mirror stainless steel is a very challenging process. The large curved mirror screen at the entrance needs to be repeatedly polished with high-quality stainless steel plates to achieve a mirror-like smooth and distortion-free effect.
During the production process, any minor scratches, bumps or seam defects will be magnified and visible, so the processing manufacturer is required to have extremely high precision manufacturing capabilities. In order to achieve seamless splicing on the screen surface, it may be necessary to use advanced processes such as CNC bending and laser cutting to accurately shape the metal plate, and then use meticulous grinding to eliminate the seams, so that the whole is like a complete mirror. During the on-site installation stage, workers must be very careful to carry and fix this "mirror" artwork, ensuring that the position and angle are accurate and that its high-gloss surface is not damaged - this is a great test of the construction team's experience and carefulness.
Thirdly, the realization of a large number of curved shapes and complex structures in the room also places high demands on precision. For example, the water ripple curved wall is likely to use pre-customized modular components (such as fiberglass GRP or wooden frames covered with special surface materials), and then assembled and connected piece by piece on site. Only when the size and curvature of each curved surface are strictly made according to the drawings and the tolerance is controlled within millimeters during installation can the final wall be guaranteed to be coherent and smooth, and no traces of segmented splicing can be seen by the naked eye. Similarly, special-shaped display cabinets such as central islands also need to be accurate when prefabricated in the factory so that they can be perfectly combined with the floor and walls on site. For example, in order to create an artistic coffee table with a "cream" shape, the production team used high-density foam to carve out the initial shape , and then covered it with fiberglass and other materials to enhance the surface texture . The production process of these special customized furniture and installations requires close cooperation between designers and craftsmen, and constantly polishing details to achieve the established visual effects and structural stability. It can be said that the selection of each material, from metal, stone to new composite materials, is accompanied by unique technological difficulties, which can only be overcome one by one through multiple rounds of experiments and accumulation of professional technology.
Finally, the implementation of such a complex design puts forward almost demanding requirements for the overall management of construction . The project involves multiple professional fields such as architectural decoration, metal manufacturing, sculpture art, lighting installation, custom furniture, etc. Any link failure may affect the overall effect. Therefore, the construction team needs to have excellent overall coordination ability: formulate detailed process plans and schedules in the early stage of construction, and arrange the advance order production of customized parts; various types of work work closely together during the construction process, and reserve and embed corresponding equipment at appropriate process nodes (for example, pre-embed support parts inside the wall in advance to fix the mirror screen, reserve light strip lines, etc.); in the final stage, the design, construction, and owner work together to control and adjust the quality of every detail to ensure that the light brightness, material joints, and curved surface shapes are highly consistent with the design draft . Not only that, environmental control at the construction site is also very important-a large number of mirrors and light-colored materials means that the construction site must be kept clean and orderly, and any dust, impurities, or bumps and damage may destroy the effect of the finished product. All these reflect the extremely high requirements for process precision and construction management for the implementation of this project, and also highlight the complexity of high-standard store design during the implementation phase.
Provide reference for brands
the Guanxia flagship store proves that an outstanding "emotional" space requires both design and execution. For brands that want to create similar immersive stores, we recommend paying attention to the following key elements in the entire process from concept design to project implementation:
1. Adhere to the 1:1 restoration of the design intent : Brands should strive to present the spatial effects in the design plan in their original form. This requires clarifying the design principles at the beginning of the project and keeping the designers closely involved in the subsequent stages. For example, 1:1 real-life samples of key areas can be made before construction to verify whether the material texture, color and details meet the design expectations, and to adjust deviations in a timely manner to ensure that the final completed effect is exactly the same as the original idea.
2. Ensure the consistency of materials and light and shadow effects : Emotional spaces rely heavily on light and shadow and materials to create an atmosphere, so it is important to ensure that the actual materials and lighting present the effects planned during the design . On the one hand, brands should work closely with the design and construction teams to select high-quality and stable materials, and try to purchase them from the same batch to avoid color differences or inconsistent textures. On the other hand, lighting designers should be invited to participate in the commissioning during the decoration stage to calibrate the light projection angle and brightness of different material surfaces so that the light and dark contrast and color temperature atmosphere of each area are consistent with the design plan. This control of materials and light effects can restore the emotional tone of the space to the greatest extent.
3. Prefabrication in factories is preferred for complex shapes : For elements such as curved shapes and special-shaped display cabinets that exist in large numbers in the design, it is recommended to complete prefabrication in the factory as much as possible, and then transport the entire structure to the site for installation. First, the factory environment can use CNC equipment to ensure processing accuracy and produce components that are highly consistent with the design curve; second, trial assembly can be carried out in advance to discover and correct problems with interfaces and dimensions. Prefabrication can reduce the uncertainty of on-site production and greatly improve construction quality and efficiency. For example, the metal booths and mirror screens in this case were customized and quickly installed on site, which not only ensured process accuracy but also shortened the construction period.
4. Strengthen the overall planning and supervision of the whole process : When implementing high-standard stores, brands should recruit construction teams with rich similar experience and establish a rigorous project management mechanism . From design deepening, material selection, construction scheduling to final acceptance, each stage needs to clarify the responsible person and acceptance criteria. Regularly hold three-party meetings (brand, design, and construction) to communicate progress and problems in a timely manner to ensure transparent and unobstructed information. In addition, sufficient time and budget should be reserved to deal with unforeseen construction challenges, such as material delays and process adjustments, to avoid sacrificing quality in order to meet deadlines. Only through comprehensive overall planning and process supervision can the artistic design concept of "emotional space" be steadily implemented and its commercial value and brand value be realized.
In general, high-fidelity, high-standard space design can significantly enhance customers' brand experience and memory points. For brands, this means investing more energy and professional resources in the early stage, but the unique atmosphere created in the end will become a valuable intangible asset of the brand. The case of Guanxia Aromatherapy flagship store fully illustrates that when design aesthetics and execution craftsmanship are perfectly combined, a retail space can transcend its commercial function and become an immersive place to tell brand stories and touch consumers' emotions.
