As the luxury brand’s first flagship store in Asia, featuring KPF’s first retail façade prototype, Michael Kors Shanghai at the Jing An Kerry Center marks a major milestone for both companies.
Taking cues from the polish and material richness of the Michael Kors brand, KPF’s design for the façade of the Shanghai flagship at the Jing An Kerry Center creates luminosity and clean geometry, making an impression at first glance, yet its pattern suggests a complex structure that cannot be easily discerned. Composed of delicate, textured, reflective pieces, as elusive as they are radiant, the vertical panels of the façade reveal new levels of complexity at every look.
The façade is intended to be a bright symbol of the brand on Nanjing Lu, Shanghai’s main shopping street. The façade pattern, texture, and material are designed and selected to maximize the shimmering reflective qualities of light both day and night. The pattern of angled shingles was specially developed to maximize light reflectivity from any angle while appearing to constantly shift and change as visitors approach the store. In order to achieve such an intricate, non-repeating façade pattern, an inventive mathematical system of variable parts was devised so that the 60 unique panels could be assembled efficiently on site.
Status: Built
Location: Shanghai, CN
Firm Role: Architect
Additional Credits: Client: Michael Kors
