Seaside Glass Case – Working Within Limits
In the coastal city of Qinhuangdao, where bright seaside light floods the streets and commercial architecture often leaves little room for nuance, CoCo & DC quietly redefines what a boutique can be. Housed in two existing retail units with a fixed glass façade that could not be altered, the project began with tight constraints—spatially fragmented, visually exposed, and constantly bathed in harsh coastal sunlight. For a fashion boutique, this posed a critical issue: prolonged UV exposure could easily damage delicate fabrics and distort color rendering across the display. Rather than fight these conditions, the design embraced them as raw material. Through subtle masking, sculptural intervention, and a play of illusion and light, the space transforms constraint into clarity and presence.
The Inner Façade
The primary design move was the creation of a translucent inner façade—an independent layer of polycarbonate panels set just behind the existing glass storefront. This element filters the intense daylight, diffusing it into a soft, ambient glow that fills the space. The result is a consistent, greenhouse-like atmosphere throughout the day. At night, concealed lighting between the glass and polycarbonate activates the space from within, transforming the storefront into a glowing, understated presence along the street.
By masking the original façade from the inside, the design generates a new spatial identity without violating external restrictions. The store reads like a glowing volume wrapped in light, with a subtle boundary between interior and city.
Circulation and Experience
At the rear of the space, a stair leads to the second floor—the boutique’s main retail zone. While the ground floor is compact and immersive, the upper level opens up, becoming brighter, more private, and more relaxed. Here, customers are invited to slow down, explore, and linger.
A single window preserved at the stair landing frames a distant view of the sea—and a residential tower by architect Moshe Safdie. This quiet alignment, invisible to most, was deliberate: a subtle architectural homage, embedded within the experience of the space.
Architectural Illusions
Throughout the interior, a series of architectural gestures quietly disrupt the viewer’s sense of material and space. At the center of second floor, a jagged concrete portal—composed of irregular concrete blocks—marks the point where the two original storefronts were joined. Rather than conceal the act of demolition, the design monumentalizes it, turning a moment of rupture into a spatial anchor.
Nearby, a floating wall hovers just above the floor, its mass and weight implied but never real. Though it appears to be poured concrete, the surface is a lightweight frame painted in cement texture—an illusion that plays with gravity and perception. On the upper level, travertine wall tiles—meaning to resemble the sea shells on the beach —are set vertically and read like sun-washed beach pavers. Their placement and tone shift the mood of the space, blurring boundaries between indoors and out, display and landscape.
A Store of Edits and Reveals
CoCo & DC is a project that turns constraints into opportunities. It builds a new spatial identity from within, filters light instead of blocking it, and uses illusion to enrich the visitor experience. Defined not by surface decoration but by spatial framing, material clarity, and control of perception, it is a boutique that quietly challenges what a retail interior can be.
Design: Studio Curves
Leader designer & Team: John Dai, Yuanyuan Duan
Construction: 2021
Clients: CoCo & DC
Materials: Polycarbonate Boards, Tile, Cement / Cement Paint Finish, Travertine, Wood Flooring, Solid Wood, Wood Veneer, Brushed Stainless Steel, Glass, CNC Milled Foam Blocks
Photo Credit: Shuangxi Li, Studio Curves
