The first store of Tough Planet Coffee is located in Shanghai's Hengfu Historic District, where the red rooftops of the old lanes stand out against the green cluster of the public space. Strolling under the shading of French parasol trees, pedestrians won't miss the strong sense of Shanghai Culture with a mixture of international vigor and local spirit along the street.
The stores in this district represent a decentralized network of dozens of trendy brands, whose owners are familiar with each other and together they create the fashion code under the continuous French parasol trees. Tough Planet is more like a plug-in in an urban network, which has proven itself into a new way of operation: cross-selling, art exhibitions, flash parties, and the combination of urban activities, constantly stimulating the imagination of the public.
The main body of the building in which Tough Planet Space is located has a unique geometric form: an eleven-story iron-shape building built in 2004. The brand’s space is located at the most prominent end of its perspective relationship. With this strongly classic spirit of the site, the design focuses first on the preservation and continuation of these precious forms, and the combing of architectural elements to further reveal space and form.
At the same time, based on the brand identity of Tough Planet and its ambition to be the core base of trendy events, the empty outdoor space is planned to become a popular gathering place for branding events, creating urban topics and attracting young people to the site, despite the fact that the site has a setback of nearly ten meters from the main road, which prevents the commercial interface from being close to the main road.
The overall design of the Tough Planet Cafe on the first floor begins with the reshaping of the alignment with the hotel façade. A slightly sloping, gently curved canopy is injected from outside into the interior, covering the coffee-making area. The seven-meter-long coffee operation table is arranged parallel to South Shaanxi Road, allowing the production atmosphere and continuous aroma to be transmitted directly to the outside. At the same time, all seats are fixed furniture, and the original closed brick walls have been transformed into continuous glass sliding doors. When the sunlight pours into the interior, the mix of various geometric forms is concentrated into vivid light and shadow, which is projected in all directions over time.
The Tough Planet Market on the second level takes full advantage of the geometric character of the iron-shaped space, developing a sliding track of movable furniture and a ceiling profile. Looking back at both the wide and narrow ends of the space, one can experience this sharp or soothing visual relationship respectively.
After dusk, the custom linear lighting design located at different elevations of the building also quickly replaces the retreat of natural light, enriching the nighttime undertones of South Shaanxi Road with color.
The completion of the design represents the new mission cycle of the whole space. We hope that this space, as a growing urban plug-in, will inspire users' imagination at different times and become the core venue for trendy collaborations, art exhibitions and flash mob parties in the city.
