Create a cosmetic space blending hill scene into block environment

Located on the Hedong Street, Old Commercial Block, Chaoyang District, Shantou City, B&M Beauty Club is a beauty salon made to serve women only. On the other side of Hedong Street, there is a moat. Tall trees grow high along the street, creating a pleasant place for walk. Considering local block environment and vision for an ideal urban interface, we set out to develop aesthetic elements within the club and devote them to the block during our design. It is planned to form a scene of a white hill and a poetic space with vertically weaved terraces, pendent arced ceiling and overlapping walls. After entering the space, customers would completely relax themselves so that they can feel the cosmetic services and unique spatial experience at the same time.

There are a variety of business stores in the vicinity, some of which are even of the same type as B&M Beauty Club. Thus, it is especially important to differentiate B&M image from others. Limited by original architectural outlook and the conditions around the store, it’s impossible to conduct so much transformation. We have to change the way of thinking and give up conventional processing methods. We choose to maximize the openness of the space with frameless glass windows and electrical glass doors so as to form a boundaryless shop in which the interior space could become the visual focus of the brand image. Through the glasses, suspending horizontal deck, pendant arched ceiling and 2-story plastic staircase seem to extend out into the exterior space endlessly. The design could blur the boundary between interior and exterior spaces at most. The green plants below the staircase echo the trees along the street, serving also as an extension of natural elements along the street. Walking along the staircase leading to the first floor behind the arched ceiling, one would feel like being among a hill, because all he/she can see are lush trees on both sides of the street. Even being “amid a hill”, one can still feel being “beyond the hill”.

On an ideal urban interface, boundary between business space and block environment or interior and exterior is blurred. The customers walking on the street could effortlessly enjoy the space within the store, which draws the business space even closer to the customers. This is a secondary practice of our design philosophy. We want to create more possibilities for business space through such practice and express our interpretation of architectural space as well as prospect on future urban block outlook.

∇ Diagram

∇ Floor Plan