Rotterdam based architecture and urbanism practice MVRDV have unveiled their most recent collaboration with luxury jewellery brand Bulgari in the form of a dramatic flagship store in Shanghai. Located on Nanjing Road at the popular and upscale Shanghai Plaza 66, the store is distinguished by a green, jade-like façade made from recycled champagne and beer bottles.
The façade is inspired both by the Art Deco architecture which became prominent throughout Shanghai in the early 20th century when it's status as a key port connecting the East and West was established, as well as Bulgari's Déco collection which characterised its jewellery in the same period. The design also pays homage to the brand's Italian heritage. Located on the Via dei Condotti in Rome, the original Bulgari boutique features ornate portals and cornices which have become a recognizable visual signature of the brand's global identity that MVRDV wove extensively into the design theme.
The Shanghai location is the third in a series of boutiques that MVRDV have designed with Bulgari (the others in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok), all of which feature striking façade designs. The Kuala Lumpur store uses marble-inspired cornices made with glass-reinforced concrete and resin threaded with backlit veins of gold light, while the Bangkok boutique uses the same cornice pattern in brass, inset with a range of different types of glass in various shades of Bulgari's signature saffron brand colour to give the façade a jewellery-like effect.
The Shanghai project incorporates the same cornice motif, but here, instead of being used to form windows, it is expressed in layered brass-edged panels arranged in Art-Deco patterns. The façade is mostly windowless, but the panels themselves are made from compressed green glass that echoes the texture of Jade, China's most precious stone. This creates a translucent effect during the day, and in the evenings the panels are backlit, giving off a crystalline glow that lends the appearance and materiality of fine jewellery.
The panel glass is completely recycled and was employed as part of a larger goal of the MVRDV/Bulgari collaboration to eventually create all store designs using 100% circular-economy materials. The design showcases the potential of sustainable recycled materials to be used effectively within a luxury context. The backlighting was custom engineered to minimize the façade’s energy footprint, requiring less than half the energy of a comparable installation.
MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs discusses the collaborative process:
“Our collaboration with Bulgari has yielded some fascinating material experiments. It’s a passion we share with them, albeit in different design disciplines. The Shanghai store encapsulates the value of these experiments: given the right treatment and detailing, leftover champagne and beer bottles, which would otherwise be thrown away, become a jewel for the city.”
The Bulgari Shanghai boutique is an innovative, eco-friendly, visually striking brand showcase incorporating both Eastern and Western cultural influences. By incorporating elements of both the brand and the region's heritage, the design layers a range of cultural and visual references into one dramatic, jewel-like structure embodying Bulgari's brand identity for a new market.
