Excerpt: In the Customer Experience Center for MINI designed by Archihope, they have interpreted the “waves” as an interweaving of lines, the composition of materials, and the layer of light and shadow, expecting to show a diversified design, resulting from the interaction between MINI’s spirit and user emotions.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] The element of “waves” is used throughout the design of the exhibition hall for BMW MINI in Qianhai. In the fashionable and ever-changing form, it reflects the wonderful life path and idealistic light of aspiring young people.
Cars are just hunks of metal, and it is people who give them life. In the same way, space is just a set mold, and it is the core design that gives it the spirit inside. The brand concept of MINI is more oriented towards youth and fashion, so in the overall design of the project, the designers highlighted the interweaving of lines, the composition of materials, and the layer of light and shadow, expecting to show a diversified design resulting from the interaction between MINI spirit and user emotions with rich combinations and changes.
The moment stepping into the exhibition hall, it seems as if the dimensional boundaries are stretched. The smooth and self-consistent arcs extend the edge of human sense perception like waves, and gazing at the ups and downs of the lines, you can have a panoramic view of the entire space. Corresponding to the softening design elements of the background, the designers highlighted the core elements with vibrant and vivacious colors. The key colors such as blackish green, tangerine, and indigo echo the different styles of the display cars, which not only clearly divide the space into different functional areas, but also maintains an unhampered visual experience.
“Slight waves will converge to form a surging wave.” The space modeling is inspired by waves. The designers used GRG to create the curved shape of the wall space and the bar counter. Lines with different curvatures crisscross and converge, outlining the overlapping waves and giving the space a surging and flowing life. Waves with both inclusive cultural characteristics and a sense of power with Innovation and conflicts, the wavy shapes presented in the exhibition hall from multiple dimensions not only enhance the layering of the space visually with rich changes of lines but also embody the spirit of inclusiveness and innovation explosively.
The designers were not only limited to imitating waves with single arcs in the design of the case. They grasped the characteristics of the water waves, installing various sizes of circular mirrors on the ceiling to symbolize the world in the foam. Multiple mirrors reflect the various shapes of space from different angles. Seemingly independent elements connected, the space becomes a wonderful story in the way of narration with a discussion where focusing on different vocabularies you can see different worlds.
The strong spiritual power of BMW MINI comes from an internal driving force drawn from the life experiences of different customers. As a concrete expression of the brand spirit, the exhibition hall must highlight the popular and distinctive personality characteristics of MINI. Therefore, the designers chose multiple materials: micro cement for wall space, circular mirror stainless steel for partial ceiling, orange stainless steel for shelves, and terrazzo prefabricated panels for the floor… The combination of different materials creates dramatic collisions and contrasts, forms an overlap and opposition of imagery and reality, and guides the dimension of the space towards the future, creating a space with beauty that reflects reality and links the future.
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