China‘s voracious consumerism knows no bounds, and while the cravings of the country’s growing middle class continue to expand and diversify, retail adapts in equal measure. The city of Shanghai is considered as the country’s leading lifestyle hub, and it’s because of this stature that many an innovative retail concept sees the light of day here. The recently opened AVENUE & SON store falls into this category. Founded in 2014 by four professional skaters from Shanghai, the skateboard brand has garnered a large global following, and following a series of pop-up stores and collaborations with leading fashion houses, it has now taken its operations to the next level with a striking standalone store. The design, created by Shenzhen-based architecture practice Various Associates, takes ample cues from skateboarding and street culture, and even includes an outdoor skate park, albeit a modest one. Interestingly, the AVENUE & SON store occupies a standalone unit on the fourth floor of Taikoo Li Qiantan, a newly opened high-end shopping centre in the sprawling city’s Liujiazhai district.
As said, there’s a skate park right outside the store, but in quite an unusual way, it’s captured by marble in order to match its plus surroundings, but also in an attempt to bridge the gap between culture and commerce. Aiming to create a meeting place for kindred skating spirits, the outdoor venue comes with a kiosk serving coffee and other drinks for skaters and visitors alike. The traditional metal folding door at the entrance is a nod to inner city streets while delicate metal slats, imprinted with the AVENUE & SON‘s logo provide a stark contrast to the contemporary architecture. A sloped ramp, flanked on each side by a staircase, recreate scenes on the streets of the city, and the appropriate height allows skaters to glide on the volumes. The outdoor ramp optically extends indoors, and as such, blurs the boundaries with the outdoors.
Mind you, skaters can actually skate through the interior to the outdoors, creating an elevated experience for both skaters and shoppers. Unified ramps and spaces at indoors and outdoors, curved handrails, symmetrical upper and lower slopes, as well as tracks on the ceiling, all resemble road markings and are meant to integrate street elements with the brand’s DNA and spatial aesthetics. Opposite the entrance sits a large video screen showing branded footage, and right behind it AVENUE & SON‘s collections are displayed in a circular configuration using displays of various shapes and heights. The adjacent spaces include a waiting area, storeroom and fitting room. The back side of the screen is an A-shaped steel frame, and right below is a marble bench which doubles as a garment display. The core ramp is not only a pop-up area for collaborative activities, but also an elaborate display for skateboards and other related products.
AVENUE & SON
Taikoo Li Qiantan, 500 Dongyu Lu, Shop W-L4-02 (Liujiazhai)
200126 Shanghai
Telephone: +86 21 50902883
Daily 11am-8.30pm
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.
