Hybrid and holistic, Social House by Xintiandi is a multifunctional space comprising retail, F&B, and lifestyle elements. Positioned across two floors of the recently renovated Xintiandi Plaza in Shanghai’s central business district, the venue has been designed for openness and exchange, bringing the vitality of outside in.
To connect to its outside environment and convey the cyclical nature of Social House’s changing program of pop-ups, exhibitions, and events, the two-storey venue is organized into functional areas conceived as gardens, and arranged thematically by seasons. To that end, and uplifting in every sense, both arrival escalators into Social House are flanked by immersive audiovisual installations comprising multiple screens showing abstract shapes to suggest spring flowers or clouds.
Layered within this imagined cyclicality of seasons, seven unique pavilions extend Social House’s garden metaphor, lending the space an additional ecosystem of functionality. Each one unique, they provide fixed landmarks or waypoints in this otherwise open space. They have been designed for flexible content, according to Social Houses’ changing program of pop-ups, exhibitions, and activities.
A response to China’s shifting retail landscape, which increasingly incorporates online shopping with offline showcases; and an appetite for multifaceted, lifestyle-focused venues, Social House signals a new model for Shanghai. A one-stop destination for fashion; experience and education; wellness and health, and above all, betterment, it is built with flexibility in mind.
Kokaistudios is an award winning architecture and interior design firm founded in 2000 in Venice by Italian architects Filippo Gabbiani & Andrea Destefanis.
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