SCOPE:
The BURTON, IN99 Chengdu Flagship Store is the first flagship store in west area of Mainland China. Since BURTON is known by a greater population in China，to build a visual significant flagship store and to improve the shopping experience is very necessary for the brand. Also, as BURTON grows gradually popular in China, conveying the message “PEOPLE, PLANET, SPORTS” becomes another goal. For the design team, to react to the sustainable design and to launch a city landmark is our inspiration and stimulation.
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BURTON IN99 Chengdu Flagship store
Retail Interior (Built)
Firm
Sa&Boo Studio
Architect/Designer
Lisa Liu
Design Team
Bonnie Liao, Pavel Zhu
Location
CHENGDU
Country
China
Photographer/Copyright
©Yu Space
OBJECTIVES & GOALS:
- Sustainable design: To use as much environmental friendly materials as possible for the giant façade.
- To offer a complete modular system for props which enhances the efficiency of the visual marketing.
- To establish a significant visual style for the brand as a reference for future.
- To make Chinese customers get to know the brand and the founder JAKE BURTON of this brand through the design.
- To build a stand-out landmark in city and worth photographing and hashtag on social networks.
Client Brand Overview:
- Demographic:
18-35yrs old male & female, outdoor activity lover, winter sports lover, professional athletes, sports bloggers, fashion trend-setters.
- Geographic:
The flagship store is located in Chengdu, Sichuan ,China. Chengdu is called the most comfortable city to live in China. Food & Leisure, Nightlife and Fashion becomes more significant tags for the city. Although it hardly ever snows in Chengdu, the Winter Olympics in Beijing is successfully held in China, promoting winter sports become gradually popular. People in Chengdu always be willing to spend money on trying new things.
- Analytic Data / Insights:
BURTON has its own population of fans, who are enthusiastic about snowboarding and knows well about the sports. However, the flagship store aims to attract more people to join the big family. Therefore, social media like XiaoHongshu, Instagram, Wechat, Weibo become new ways of spreading the messages.
MANDATORIES:
BURTON has its complete branding visual reference. During the whole process we need to take care of the strict branding graphic rules, including fonts, logo sizes, logotype, etc. Meanwhile, the brand has its own visual significant color swatch: JAKE BLUE, which will be used in design.
MILESTONES – with Client
- Conception Approval
Goal: Set up the concept
Deliverable: A conceptual design drawing of façade. Overall visual style reference for the store.
Process: During this phase the design team works hard on communicating with client BURTON, to gather information from department like Engineering, Visual Marketing, Manager ,etc. Giant façade of this site is our major concern.
- Design Approval
Goal: Zoning Plan
Deliverable: Floor Plan drawings, Profile views to see sections, axonometric drawings to illustrate the function works.
Process: At this stage, we focus on working with Visual Marketing group from BURTON to better understand their needs for retail zoning, props using experiences, etc.
- Design Reviews
Goal: Materials Choice & Props Design
Deliverable: Modular props system drawings, 3D printed models.
Process: In order to bring back the feelings of nature and snow surroundings, playing with different parts of the steel props feels like playing LEGO, which offers us a lot of challenges as well as fun.
- Final Design Approval
Goal: Renderings & Construction Drawings
Deliverable: Renderings of the space and Construction drawings in both digital and blueprints.
Process: Working with BURTON was very efficient. After 3 milestones mentioned above, we quickly reached into those agreements on Façade design, materials, modular stacking, racking system, zoning and other needs.
- Before Construction Approval
Goal: Budget analysis
Deliverable: An estimated budget from design team as a reference.
Process: Researching the market and try to find the most suitable materials is the main job at this stage.
MILESTONES – design team
- Brainstorming
Goal: To bring back a snow world in city.
Deliverable: Conceptual drawings and references.
Process: The most exciting process for a team is to brainstorming the core idea of this project. Since Chengdu barely snows, how to create a visual sign which immediately reminds people of this brand becomes priority. Therefore we start from façade.
- Design Challenges
Goal: How to make sustainable design happen in future construction?
Deliverable: Crumbled wasted snow gears materials, board, Burnt wood sample.
Process: This is the most interesting part, we work with different suppliers and ask them to deconstruct the snow gears offered by BURTON. As for the wooden products, we are looking for a natural burnt wood instead of factory-produced wood. Since the color white is hard to take care, waterproof technique and whitening process is another technical challenge the design team worked hard on whole time.
- Creative and Critical Thinking
Goal: Immersive shopping experience
Deliverable: Interactive installation design and workshop design.
Process: Researching the brand history and social networks in China, to make the store “instagrammable” is another challenge. The design team works hard on combining the traditional Chinese wood construction structure with modern architectural structure. And bring back the memory of the brand’s history in this conflicting space is our goal.
- Exploration
Goal: Create visual marks only for Flagship store in Chengdu.
Deliverable: Original illustrations, Original design furniture, Hand-crafted materials.
Process: The stimulating and creating moments are happening every now and then. The illustration artist from the design team has drawn a set of comic-like illustration to translate the user guide of snow gears and the brand history development. The furniture included the elements from the brand mandatories, therefore it’s not easy to find in market, the team designed the furniture on its own.
- Timing
Goal: Finish the design within 30 days
Deliverable: Complete design drawings, Program book.
Process: In order to complete the design process, design team set up a strict timeline for each milestone and try to catch up with reviews and feedbacks from the client.
BUDGET
The budget is not supposed to reveal upon client’s privacy.