Sometimes cool things happen in unexpected places, and such is the case with the Heng Salon. Situated on the third floor of Phoenix Plaza, a large shopping mall in the heart of Nanjing which has seen a major renovation two years ago, the salon shares a passage way with a bookstore, an educational agency and another hair salon. The aforementioned renovation resulted also in a 29 sqm. (312 sq.ft.) triangular public space directly in front of the salon, and the owner of Heng Salon came up with the idea to put it to use and create added value for his business and tapped interior architect Huang Yi of Chinese design practice wutongstudio to create a matching setting. The salon itself is encased by gradient glass and borders, so the aesthetic of the triangular space obviously needed to embed a certain similarity.
Facing the mall’s voluminous atrium, translucent polycarbonate hollow sheets were used to allow in floods of softly filtered daylight, but left space for an actual window to enable visual interaction with the outside world. Ceiling louvers are placed diagonally and visually add a specific dynamic to the setting. The pop-up space is minimalist and uncluttered, creating the perfect environment where customers can fully wind down in one of the comfy seats for scalp relaxation treatments. Heng Salon pop-up’s contemporary design objective also embeds a strong environmental element as recyclable materials have been used and energy saving measures have been implemented. Furnishings are intentionally sparse, comprising merely of treatment chairs and mirrors, chunky displays and sleek pendant lamps (open through Sep 30).
Heng Salon
Phoenix Plaza, 1 Hunan Lu, Third Floor (Gulou)
210009 Nanjing
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
