Beauty brand Harmay’s newest location, in Chengdu, offers space for 24-hour programming with a cosmetics store, bakery and bar.

Key features

A simple, minimalistic intervention powers the hybrid spatial plan, which provides a set-up for the retailer’s multifunctional set-up to coexist organically. ‘While it would have been easier to place [the functional spaces] side by side, our intention was to create a crossover where one program influences the other throughout the day while offering the flexibility to function independently,’ explains the team at Aim Architecture. The store utilizes prefabricated industrial crates, repetitively stacked to create a linear customer journey throughout the warehouse-inspired space.

Various display forms and a standard rack system emerge from the combination of these humble elements, the looks of which are echoed with white floor tiles, a steel grill ceiling and factory door units with windows for connective visibility. The bakery area offers views into the kitchen and spotlights a screen showing live footage of customers outside the store. The wayfinding magnetizes toward the external public plaza, where stacked wooden pallets provide seating for spontaneous conversations and relaxation. 

FRAME’s take

One of the most important ideas that Aim Architecture pushes forward with this space is that – in the team’s words – ‘complex and customized techniques, materials, and design are not the only way to create high-quality retail experiences.’ Indeed, the fact that the space responds to Chengdu’s 24-hour culture is far more relevant than its material form. This shift in design thinking is essential as physical retail experiences become more about community programming than direct commercial actions. It opens the door for designers and architects to think more critically about how to build impact cost-effectively and sustainably.