HARMAY Beijing Flagship Store

HARMAY Beijing Flagship Store | Bejing, China | 2019
[AIM Architecture]

The new warehouse is spread out over two floors, where there is a gaping void —quite literally, we hacked out a part of the ceiling to create more visibility.

The first floor focuses on small products. A huge assembly table creates strong movement and functions as a carrier where all these lucrative, fast-moving items, are showcased. Spatially, the big loop creates a powerful direction and momentum, tying all the product together more cohesively, all while enabling a semi-enclosed area for the staff to work.

A spiral staircase swirls up from the assembly table and guides guests up to the larger part of the warehouse space, where rows of steel shelves housing a multitude of products greet visitors.

The second floor also grants a peek behind the curtain of HARMAY’s branding machine. A curtain closes off the light filtering through a translucent facade, creating a small studio for shooting product. It’s a fun flex on all behind the scenes styling that goes into each clickable e-commerce listing.

Here u can also step into five rooms designed to enhance the offline sales engagement. Each room offers a themed product focus. A white travel kit room features see through bags filled with smaller products ideal for travel. The product is displayed with efficiency and elegance: hanging from the wall, a la grab n’ go. The perfume bar has colorful flower patterned walls, and is a romantic tribute to the lasting power of scent.

A third room invites visitors to try on products behind soft curtain walls. Like a backstage dressing room, there is a sense of fun, play, and luxury. The niche room is a high profile room tailored for exclusivity, luxury cosmetics, and unique brands to HARMAY. The fifth room is white, a blank space, like a crisp sheet of white paper; guests are invited to write the next act on their own.

All brands are moving parts pieced together to create a product or experience. The Beijing location has big glass brick façade, an industrial statement where the absence of seeing makes the exterior statement more powerful, with only the seduction of shadows and movement.

Like seeing shapes behind a curtain, hearing footsteps on the stage. There are only two tiny doors here, but once inside, guests become a part of the show. Inside, it is the whole world of HARMAY. Text description by the architects.