Camper Flagship Showroom by Neri & Hu // Shanghai, China.

Shanghai based architects Neri & Hu Design and Research Office were commissioned to design Camper‘s new flagship store and office in Shanghai. Camper are known for snapping up the local leaders of the design pack for their store interiors. Remember these projects by the same clever crew? Yup, definitely pack leaders.

This project is not only visually energetic and playful, it references the history of Shanghai’s urban fabric. The design is inspired by nongtangs, the residential alleyways of old Shanghai. These laneways fostered a communal style of living, often degrading the distinction between public and private space and resulting in a vibrant street life.

The Camper store is a reinterpreted two storey traditional house, sliced in half and opening itself up to the “laneway” within the warehouse which it sits. The slice is expressed with a bright red rubber, which is the same rubber used for Camper’s shoe souls and branding. An angled mirror terminates the laneway so the reflection visually completes the other half of the sliced house. Materials have been recycled from demolished residential sites, creating a diverse and textural palette, steeped in the history and memory of the city. The wire hangers displaying shoes from above make reference to the drying laundry of the alleyways.

Conceptually, this project is rich with ideas. References to tradition are so cleverly appropriated with contemporary inventiveness. While I’m a little skeptical that the charming laneway social culture can be emulated in a retail setting, perhaps that was never part of the design intent. However, as a spatial gesture, the scheme so cleverly investigates and brings to life the fascinating qualities of the old nongtangs.

Text by Ella Leoncio for Yellowtrace.

See more work by Neri & Hu on Yellowtrace.

[ Images courtesy of Neri & Hu. Photography by Shen Zhonghai.]