Bulgari Shanghai
Architect: MVRDV
Location: Shanghai, China
Type: Retail
Year: 2021
Photographs: Bulgari, Xia Zhi
On Shanghai’s Nanjing Road, a new Bulgari flagship store has opened at Shanghai Plaza 66, one of the city’s largest and most popular shopping malls. MVRDV developed a green, jade-like façade constructed of metal and recycled champagne, beer, and other glass bottles for the new store. The concept is innovative and sustainable, while remaining loyal to both Bulgari and Shanghai’s past. It is inspired by a mixture of inspirations, from the first Bulgari store in Rome to Shanghai’s unique Art Deco architecture.
Bulgari Shanghai is MVRDV’s third flagship store façade in the luxury Italian jewellery brand’s continuous cooperation. The Shanghai project, like the other designs, uses a visual motif inspired by Bulgari’s first original boutique on Rome’s Via dei Condotti’s entrances and cornices, adopting the instantly recognisable visual identity that now identifies their stores globally.
© Bulgari © Bulgari
In a departure from prior designs, however, this theme is not used to create windows in the façade. Instead, the Shanghai façade has few windows and uses the cornice motif in stacked panels to create an Art-Deco-inspired design. Shanghai and Bulgari share an Art Deco theme: the Chinese city’s early 20th-century role as an important port between East and West gave it a rich legacy in this architectural style, while Bulgari’s Déco line defined its jewellery at the same period.
The façade takes on the materiality of fine jewellery with panels that imitate China’s most precious stone, Jade, to complete this cycle of influence. As a result, the design is intricate, with layers upon layers of cross-cultural influences; Art Deco building with a jewel-like aspect, blending the best of Eastern and Western culture. The gold-coloured brass trim adds to the facade’s look.
The panels are composed of compressed green glass, which has a translucent finish and a unique material impression. A backlight behind the panels illuminates the façade at night, showcasing the glass’s unique textured quality. The glass is made entirely of recycled materials and is created at the Magna glass treatment facility in Teutschenthal, Germany. The project highlights the possibility of sustainable recycled materials, even in high-end settings, and is a step toward MVRDV and Bulgari’s objective of creating shop designs made entirely of circular economy materials. Meanwhile, the backlight is designed to reduce the energy footprint of the façade, consuming less than half the energy of a comparable installation.
“Our collaboration with Bulgari has yielded some fascinating material experiments,” says MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs. “It’s a passion we share with them, albeit in different design disciplines. The Shanghai store encapsulates the value of these experiments: given the right treatment and detailing, leftover champagne and beer bottles, which would otherwise be thrown away, become a jewel for the city.”
Bulgari Shanghai is MVRDV’s third shopfront for the Italian company, following Bulgari Kuala Lumpur, which opened in 2018 with a marble-inspired façade lighted by gold light veins. This appearance was created by cutting glass-reinforced concrete into the cornice pattern, filling it with resin, then lighting it with amber LED lights. The opening of Bulgari Bangkok in 2020 was followed by the creation of a cornice design in brass that was coupled with various types of glass to create a spectacular jewel-like effect. The store’s wares are highlighted in Bulgari’s trademark saffron colour by subtle illumination in each window.
Watch video of the Bulgari Shanghai here
Project Details
- Project Name: Bulgari Shanghai Location: Shanghai, China
- Year: 2021
- Client: Bulgari
- Size and Programme: 274m2 retail façade
Credits
- Architect: MVRDV
- Founding Partner in charge: Jacob van Rijs
- Partner: Fokke Moerel
- Design Team: Jacob van Rijs, Fokke Moerel, Aser Gimenez Ortega, Simone Costa, Giovanni Nardi, Elien Deceuninck
- Director MVRDV Asia: Steven Smit
- MVRDV Asia Team: Ruochen Zhang, Carmen Xu
- Images: © Bulgari, © Xia Zhi
- Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries
Partners
- Glass manufacture: MAGNA Glaskeramic GmbH
- Contractor: RICH HONOUR International Design Co., Ltd
