Hé Showroom is a 300-square-meter fashion retail interior in Nanyou, Shenzhen, organized as a sequence of display, fitting, conversation, and lounge settings. The project uses mobile concrete volumes, vaulted circulation, and an assemblage of brick, stone, plaster, and steel to position retail activity within a spatial landscape rather than a fixed sales floor.
Hé Showroom Technical Information
- Architects: LubanEra Design
- Location: Nanyou, Shenzhen, China
- Gross Area: 300 m2 | 3,229 Sq. Ft.
- Project Year: 2025
- Photographs: © Nie Xiaocong
The retail environment is conceived as a flexible system in which spatial aesthetics, architectural structure, and practical use can adapt to changing needs.
– Hongbo Chen
Thresholds and Material Contrast
The entrance establishes the interior’s central material argument before visitors cross the threshold. Long, narrow dark-brown glazed bricks form a reflective facade surface, their polished finish registering daylight with a lacquer-like depth. This controlled sheen is set against an aggregate-flecked soffit and a rough travertine sign block, introducing a deliberate opposition between manufactured regularity and geological irregularity. A small tree at the approach further interrupts the hard material field, bringing foliage into contact with the dark brick plane.
Inside, a second sign is recessed into a smooth grey cement-plaster wall, reducing graphic identity to a spatial cue. Rather than operating as an isolated visual statement, the paired markers measure the transition from street to showroom. The sequence moves from reflective brick and rough render to plaster, stone, and concrete, preparing visitors for an interior in which polished surfaces and unfinished matter remain in close proximity. This approach gives material contrast an orienting role, rather than treating it as a decorative overlay.
Framed Views, Vaults, and Spatial Sequencing
A suspended plaster wall at the lobby acts as the project’s principal visual filter. Lifted clear of the floor, the slab is punctured by an irregular opening lined with a rough mineral crust. Its fractured perimeter avoids the precision of a conventional framed opening, making the wall read as a thickened fragment rather than a neutral partition. Garment rails, curved walls, lounge furniture, and planting are visible through the aperture, allowing retail displays to be understood through layered and partial views.
Along one side of the plan, shallow groin vaults establish a measured ceiling rhythm above a corridor and raised brick platform. Track lighting extends the corridor’s directional pull, while the glossy brick floor reflects garments, fixtures, and the vaults above. At the corridor’s end, a brick-lined lounge is screened by translucent stone panels and punctuated by granite thresholds. Changes in floor level, foliage, backlit panels, and apertures create a gradual sequence between circulation and occupation, avoiding a rigid separation between passageway, display zone, and resting area.
Mobile Volumes and Negotiation Landscapes
The center of the showroom is organized around two board-marked concrete drums mounted on visible industrial castors. Their mobility introduces an operational flexibility uncommon in retail interiors, allowing fitting, display, and enclosure to be adjusted without reconstructing the plan. Narrow vertical openings interrupt the volumes, while curved steel rails trace their external perimeter. The drums are therefore neither fully enclosed rooms nor freestanding furniture, but adjustable spatial instruments that combine storage, display, and screening.
An oval ceiling light membrane concentrates illumination over this central field, where exposed concrete beams remain visible at the perimeter of the opening. Below, a circular patchwork of dark slate and quartzite separates the gathering area from the paler cement floor around it. Curved modular sofas and rough-edged travertine tables occupy the resulting island, forming a setting for conversation and fitting. The circular floor boundary and overhead light organize the open room without relying on conventional walls, while adjacent curved partitions maintain visual continuity with the surrounding negotiation zones.
Material Assemblage and Retail Atmosphere
The interior assembles exposed concrete, mottled plaster, glazed brick, travertine, granite, rust-toned steel, and translucent stone without attempting to reduce their differences. Board-marked concrete remains visibly coarse beside polished brick, while dusty rose and ochre plaster walls introduce a weathered surface between these harder elements. This palette tests how raw material can retain its weight and texture within a commercial setting that also requires precise display hardware, controlled lighting, and close-range interaction with garments.
Stone operates across several scales and degrees of finish. Unworked granite boulders serve as thresholds, plinths, and planted anchors; broken travertine slabs become informal display planes; carved stone forms coffee tables and rail brackets; and banded travertine clads the curved reception counter. Steel rails connect garments to walls and ceiling uprights through deliberately exposed joints, while furniture and planting occupy the same spatial field as merchandise. The result is a retail landscape where browsing, fitting, waiting, and conversation are treated as overlapping forms of occupation rather than isolated functions.
About LubanEra Design
LubanEra Design is a versatile creative design practice dedicated to retail experience solutions for fashion brands. Its work encompasses commercial space solutions, SI system design, and VI design, guided by a belief that fashion originates from personality, exploration, and creativity. The practice combines the Luban spirit, ingenious craftsmanship, and dedication to perfection with contemporary design contexts to create innovative retail environments.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Creative Director: Hongbo Chen
- Design Team: Zhang Le, Wu Jianxing, Hu Yeguang
- Photography: Nie Xiaocong
