LEA Buyer's Shop

Project site: Changshu, Suzhou

Time of design: 2021 Time of completion: 2021 Project scale: 262㎡ Project client: LEA Buyer’s Shop Client aesthetic consultant: Cui Wei Design team: Shaohua Di, Ni Shiyuan, Yang Jialin LEA Buyer’s shop is located in Changshu, Jiangsu province, the previous so called “world factory” of fashion industry. Along with the government’s environmental regulations, increased labour costs and relocation of the manufacture to outside of China, Changshu’s fashion industry is transitioning from manufacture to fashion design business. The owner of the shop intends to represent domestic emerging fashion designers. The existing space is 193 ㎡ with a net height of 4.7m underneath the concrete beams. Besides open display area, a private office/VIP space is required. A reversed pyramid is inserted into the existing rectangular box to hide the existing column in the middle. Inside the pyramid is the office/VIP mezzanine and outside the open shop. The shop area is thus maximized while leaving the mezzanine fairly sizable. Walking around the shop, the pyramid solid constantly denies a visual clue, and a visitor’s spatial experience becomes one of discovery. The connection between the ground floor and the mezzanine is implicit, which can be experienced in two circumstances. One is through a bridge linking the stair and the mezzanine entrance, and the other through a vertical periscope tunnel. These two attentively situated connectors generate a sense of a place facilitating unexpected encounter among visitors. Under the age of online-business, the design sought a physical space of incidence and serendipity.