Parallel Universes
In 2018, as the first new tea drink brand opening a store in Disneytown, Heytea matched Disney Resort’s dreamlike atmosphere by the illustration work, “Love is Magic”. If the Heytea Store 1.0 chose to integrate into Disneytown’s childlike atmosphere, the Heytea Store 2.0 was designed to communicate with the fairy-tale world. Through the renovation after four years, AAN Architects opened a brand-new storytelling space and created a parallel universe between reality and fantasy in a more innovative way.

The “parallel universe” is not a story but a process of inspiration collision and breeding. The “inspiration universe” in motion also matches the infinite imagination behind all Disney’s classic stories. It shows infinite imagination and joy by restraint and blank spaces to create a unique dreamlike atmosphere. Because of such a design strategy, the renovated store fully shows that Heytea and Disney have an internal resonance rather than superficial similarities.

Facing the restriction and challenge of not changing the outer space and interior walls of the building, the design created a centripetal space by taking advantage of the unique structure and shape of the original building to salute the classic and eternal representative of buildings, Pantheon. The design created a thrilling main space by wrapping irremovable walls and covering the core of the building with a dome.

Meanwhile, inspired by scientists’ guess on parallel universes and Disney’s multiverse, the design team formed a spatial structure by parallel lines developing from the circle center, and organized all functional spaces in a parallel and order way. The centrosymmetric parallel curves are not limited to styles and trends anymore so the space is as refreshing as Disney’s classic characters.

Although designed with the theme of parallel universes, the store doesn’t have concrete elements commonly seen in the theme of space technology, and even has a color different from our impression of space colors. The design team chose “planetary orbits” representing changing space-times as its shape to build a pure white universe carrying infinite imagination.

As for space design, the design team took the original round structure of the building as the foundation, achieved the imagery of the round planetary orbits and extracted the conceptual elements of curves and concentric circles. Curves in tiers extend the space and lead people from the order taking counter to the round space in the center of the store, which is also the waiting area for picking up tea. The pure white daylight from the high dome shines with a dreamlike magnificent sense of future and shows the infinite changes of the inspiration universe.

As it is one of the most popular and busiest stores in Disenytown, in addition to the renewal of brand stories in the space, the design team also concentrated on how to efficiently design a good foot traffic flow and space arrangement to guarantee the efficient operation of the store.