F§ATUR§D PRoj§Ct
Ports 1961 Shanghai, China Façade Designer: Uufie Interior design/design producer: Yabu Pushelbeg Lighting Consultant: Inverse Lighting Design Ltd. Façade Manufacturer/Installer: J. Gartner & Co. (HK) Ltd. Façade Engineer: T/E/S/S atelier d/ingénierie Project Coordinator: eightsixthree Ltd. Text: Vilma Barr Photos: Shengliang Su (Ext.), Michael Weber (Int.) The Challenge: Ports 1961 is a high-fashion international retailer. Previously located in a series of shops and boutiques in Shanghai, store management decided they wished to express the Ports 1961 image in a stand-alone structure that would become a one-of-akind destination. The Solution: The design brief specified that the structure be a visual magnet both day and night. A multidisciplinary design team was assembled to express the store’s distinctive fashion point-ofview for the exterior and interior spaces. Inverse Lighting Design Ltd., with project lead designer Filip Vermeiren, was commissioned to create the lighting program. For the exterior, a synthesis of sculptural glass block and LED fixtures produce surface texture and evening glow. Inside, the architectural details and merchandise presentation are strategically illuminated.
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Aglow in Shanghai Founded in 1961 in Toronto as
and fashionable thoroughfare. It
location, and the rest, as they say,
a silk importing business, Ports
quickly experienced enormous
is history. Once an office building,
1961 has evolved into an inter-
popularity among the city’s cadre
the now 12,325-sq.-ft. faceted glass
national retail phenomenon with
of fashion-conscious consumers,
structure has taken on a dramatic
a fleet of 327 stores, including a
and as a result, outgrew its space.
new life as a three-level retail
spectacular flagship operation
A decision was made to invest in
operation, set like a jewel amidst
in Shanghai. Its business model
a new facility, and build big, based
steel and glass high-rise towers.
is based on vertical integration,
on the mega-size of the Shanghai
controlling design, production and
market: 24 million residents—the
at a fairly unique site at the busy
retail operations for women’s and
biggest in China—and the largest
intersection of Changde and Nan-
men’s collections. Its initial outlet
city proper in the world. Ports 1961
jing West Roads, an art-inspired
in Shanghai opened three years
moved to capitalize on its potential.
centerpiece within the surround-
ago on The Bund—the city’s historic
The store was relocated to a new
ing urban context. Vehicular traffic
The store benefits from being
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2/5/16 09:30