Archello Awards 2024 open for entry · Early Bird gets 25% off
Archello Awards 2024 open for entry
Early Bird gets 25% off
ZUCZUG BAZAAR
Minjie Wang

ZUCZUG BAZAAR

Sò Studio as Architects

Conveying the brand's character and narrative and seeking breakthroughs through Use spatial design language, the full integration of aesthetics and commercial retail functions has been achieved. Sò Studio also echoes ZUCZUG's philosophy of continuously providing customers with high-quality products and strengthens ZUCZUG's "equality" and basic concepts of "life and imagination" to present a relaxed and interesting attitude towards life for all the patrons.

Inspired by the Open Market, ZUCZUG Bazaar not only serves as an extension of the wardrobe, but also presents assembly store as public space, filled with freedom, openness, diversity, and the joy of treasure hunting.

ZUCZUG Flat simulates a girl's wardrobe and employs the cloakroom as the theme to collect the beauty and joyfulness in daily life, making customers feel as comfortable as in an apartment.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

01 ZUCZUG Bazaar Xiamen

Bazaar, also known as the market, is the earliest comprehensive shopping place in human society. Divergent products are scattered throughout various stalls, equally open to everyone.

By traversing in the store, one could enjoy the shopping process accompanied by activities such as wandering, and socializing with each other while the items obtained are used for daily life.

Even today, when the shopping mall experience is well established, the experience of visiting the market is still irreplaceable and has developed into a more extensive form into commercial space.

Entering the dazzling entrance, one can discover that the 180-square-meters space encompasses 7 different stylish brands under ZUCZUG, which were arranged independently while correspond with each other.

This is not only a brand-new appearance after multiple independent brand stores of ZUCZUG have taken root, but also another innovative attempt by Sò Studio for retail space.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

PART 1 
Structure creativity
Connect people with the market closer

The thoughts behind market space are not only based on the designer's solid academic accumulation in architecture and design, but also depends on the designer's personal observation and experience of urban public spaces.

The chief designer likes to capture inspiration from architecture. While studying in Italy, they traveled around the city markets to feel the vibrant energy endowed in. When traveling in Thailand, they wandered around the local semi-open markets and felt the infinity of a semi-open space; the markets along the Seine River used freely retractable boxes as the main structure of the stalls; the markets in Mexico retained the traces of construction and using wood and metal as the main building materials. All of these inspirations provide nutrients for the innovative design of ZUCZUG Bazaar.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

1-1 Structure and proportion

Scale always affects the relationship between space and people. The display and shopping experience, whether free and comfortable, or relaxed and enjoyable, are both within the scale. The entire ZUCZUG Bazaar is constructed with natural Japanese maple and hollowed out metal as the main structure. The proportion of different display items is coordinated between the high and low levels, but it is filled with joy, achieving the proper spatial division of different brands.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

1-2 Straights and curves

There are no redundant decorations, starting from the texture of each wooden board, making the best of geometric softness and strength. The use of softer wood grain curves, combined with the circular cutting of the board edges, perfectly neutralizes the dominant linear structure. Roundness replaces edges and corners, bringing warmth and security to the space.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

1-3 Flexibility and diversity

Form and function, like the exterior and interior of architecture, are not antagonistic, but rather lies in a harmonious and flowing relationship. As a B corps enterprise, ZUCZUG places emphasis on the sustainability of spatial components. Therefore, Sò Studio has conducted a lasting experimental process by repeated testing and improvement, each item is endowed with more possibilities.

The hidden mechanism is like a giant building block game, with just a few changes, it can generate new combinations that are capable of handling flexible and diverse display scenes.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

1-4 Outdoor and indoor

As a store that accommodates a variety of brands, ZUCZUG Bazaar offers daily clothing like Klee Klee, as well as outdoor sports brands such as An Ko Rau. 

The client’s brief called for a space that could eliminate the boundary between outdoors and indoors. The street fence has been transformed into a shelter for shoes, of which the size and position of the board were adjusted in a comfortable and coordinated structural proportion. A small display chair resembling Maza, and a movable island platform are a reminiscent of a temporary camping retreat. Hollow metal seats that can be seen everywhere on the square are also placed next to display racks, with light penetrating through and leaving shadows onto the ground.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang
photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

PART 2
Mosaic
Part and whole jigsaw puzzle

How does color play a role in dividing space? The designer draws the mosaic picture through calculation and assembly.

From the welcoming mosaic "come in" at the entrance, the bright yellow mosaic island platform, to the green mosaic walls distributed in the An Ko Rau area, as well as the iconic mosaic smiling faces and mosaic shaped display platforms, the colors completes the entire space with a three-dimensional graphic identity. It seems to be also announcing the lifestyle emphasized by ZUCZUG Bazaar - lively, land interesting.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

PART 3 
When the lamp is hidden in the light

If architecture is a living space, then light is the flowing blood. Between light and darkness, hiding and revealing, closing and releasing, light gives the space emotional weaves, either calmness or flow. It embraces everything in the space and dissolves between structures.

In the invisible space of the lamp, the light does not disappear, bringing light to the space. Even without the presence of lights, it can create a dazzling entrance. When the light appears, the attention of one's eyes are also drawn.

Flexible spotlights are embedded into the track, ensuring that the display of commodities is always under the spotlight. Wandering around ZUCZUG Bazaar, one can feel the light as an invisible design, constantly embellishing a relaxed and joyful spatial atmosphere.

photo_credit Minjie Wang
Minjie Wang

Team:

Chief designer: YIFAN、MENGJIE、MENGYING
Design team: YIFAN、MENGJIE、ECHO、MELANIA
Client: ZUCZUG
Interior photography: Minjie Wang

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