ZANADU Travel Experience Space in Shanghai, China by Shishang Architecture

Article source: Shishang Architecture

ZANADU is a 4 years old e-commerce startup-company in the premium travel space in China. They provide a suite of travel products to affluent Chinese travelers. Signature journeys, international luxury vacations, high-end cruises, domestic short vacations, private villas and a large selection of the world’s best boutique and luxury hotels.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

• Architects: Shishang Architecture
• Project: ZANADU Travel Experience Space
• Location: Shanghai Village, Shanghai, China
• Photography: Sui Sicong
• Area: 600㎡

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Since the Chinese travel market is comparatively young, many consumers are not clear about the aspects of luxury vacations. What are boutique hotels? What to expect on an exclusive luxury journey? How are high-end cruises different from the usual cruises? etc.

To answer these questions for their prospective customers, ZANADU has used a variety of media. They operate a very successful WeChat channel, they publish a quarterly magazine, they shoot video content, and in 2015 they started to shoot 360° virtual reality videos. These so called VR videos make it possible to experience destinations and hotels before customers make a booking.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

ZANADU has held many road shows and offline events where they provide these VR experiences to prospective customers. Because of the success with this technology, they decided to create a permanent space where customers can experience their travel products in innovative ways, including VR technology.

Challenge

Value Retail, the world’s largest operator of luxury outlets, offered ZANADU a 600sqm space at the newly opened Shanghai Village in Shanghai Pudong, right next to Disney. Shishang Architecture was hired to design the space considering several aspects and stakeholders

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

– The space should reflect the ZANADU brand. This is a very young brand, and this space is the first offline location for the brand. Lots of consideration was put into how to portrait this online brand in an offline environment.

– The space should feature the VR technology and VR experience as a center piece and attraction for walk-in customers.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

– There should be more functionality to showcase popular destinations and travel products in an interactive way using touchscreen terminals.

– VR experiences can be very individual and quiet, since the users wear a VR glass. The challenge was to make the place exciting and immersive at the same time.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Idea

The big idea was “The travel agency of the future”. In the West, brick-and-mortar travel agencies are everywhere and reflect the old way of booking a vacation. In China on the other hand, most travel is being booked online, and offline agencies were never really popular. We wanted ZANADU’s first brand space to reflect how travel will be booked and experiences in the near future.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

The big idea influenced the design and functionality of the space:

– The design language is very much tech-driven. The space feels like an exploded pixel landscape. Digital clouds hang from the ceiling. Digital cubes are scattered in islands across the space. The pixels represent the digital origin of the travel brand, translated into a physical environment.

– Five gigantic digitally stylized balloons are the center-piece of the space, inviting visitors to take a seat beneath them and start a virtual journey.

– 20 interactive destination cubes were fitted with touchscreen monitors, displaying interactive stories about journeys, products and destinations.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

– Two 10-meter-wide projection screens and a surround sound system made for dramatic audio-visual effects. Every 15 minutes a 2-minute-long cinematic brand film plays out across the 20m width of the screen.

– Everything in the store is linked via WeChat and QR codes to ZANADU’s customer relationship management system. Every visitor will scan a QR code to receive a VR experience or link to specific products.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Results

The ZANADU Space in the Shanghai Village had a soft opening in May 2016 and an official opening event on August 3rd 2016. Shanghai Village has more than 100 retail outlets, and since the very beginning the ZANADU space has been the most visited place in the entire village. There is a monthly footfall of 10.000 visitors, 75% of which have the VR experience and join the CRM program.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Many influential Chinese media reported on the store opening, including influential publications in the tech sector (36kr, Pingwest), travel media (tnooz, traveldaily), TV stations like CCTV and Phoenix TV and online portals like sina and ifeng.com.

Chen Xuan is the executive director and chief designer of Shishang Architecture. She founded the studio in 2004 and it has since become a leading architecture and design practice in China and beyond. Under her leadership, Shishang has completed many high-profile residential, commercial and cultural projects which are regularly featured in leading print and online publications.

Image Courtesy © Sui Sicong

Before starting Shishang, Chen Xuan joined the China Academy of Building Research in 2001, where she opened a commercial department within the China Building Technology Group Co. Ltd in 2002. During that period she was instrum ental in designing multiple high profile government buildings like the Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the RenminZhengxie Newspaper Office Building.
In 2009, Chen Xuan returned to the Central Academy of Fine Arts to work on her PhD research program for Modern Art Museum Architecture.

Image Courtesy © Shishang Architecture

When Chen Xuan is not busy designing, she performs as lead singer in the band The Key, and involves in many cross-discipline projects with fashion, merchandise and commercial art, many of which proceeds go to charity. Chen Xuan is also a regular guest and host in design-focused TV shows, gives lectures at top Chinese universities and writes articles for industry publications.

Published research essays and designs appear in Vogue, Cosmo, Domus International Chinese Edition, Interial Design Chinese Edition, China Architectural Daily, Architectural Digest, Better Home & Gardens, Hanghai Daily, China Daily, ilook, Beijing TV Station, Sohu.com, philips-lighting.cn and many other online and print media.

Image Courtesy © Shishang Architecture

Tags: China, Shanghai, Shanghai Village

Categories: Office Building, Office space, Offices

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