Glory Casa is Asia’s leading company for the sale of haute de gamme furniture and furnishings and today it has become the standard-bearer of Italian-made furniture abroad, transmitting the message of European elegance and sophistication in the East.
The architectural studio Vudafieri-Saverino Partners has taken inspiration by the reference to Italy to design the new Glory Casa Flagship Stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Kunming, recently opened in four prestigious Shopping Malls.
The aim was to create distinctive, signature spaces, capable of expressing instantly the savoir-faire and aesthetic essence of Italian-made goods: the iconic element of the new Glory Casa flagship stores thus becomes the round arch, which characterises the spaces, from facades to interiors, an archetype chosen as a symbol of Italian architecture, from ancient times to the present day.
Clad entirely in grey marble, the arches of the exterior facade mark out wide porticos of striking visual impact, lending recognisability and atmosphere and creating ideal walking space: the aim is to recreate the porticoed streets typical of Italian towns, giving people the feeling of being in Italy and, at the same time, inviting them to have a look in the windows.
The large windows give a good view of the collections inside and alternate with solid marble walls: a solution that responds to the need to preserve a certain level of privacy and exclusivity for customers of the store.
The same arches are also found in the interior facades – which define Glory Casa spaces in the Mall – allowing the brand to stand out from other brands with outlets in the centre.
Vudafieri-Saverino Partners was also responsible for the layout of the interiors, starting with distribution of spaces that cover surfaces from 1100 to 3800 square metres: the floor plan has been developed to allow the customer to visit different commercial areas flexibly and without the feeling of being obliged to follow a forced route, but as if the layout were the background landscape for a walk between places and stories redolent of distant evocations.
The common areas (reception, VIP room, information desk and shopping services) alternate with a series of rooms dedicated to individual brands: veritable “architectural boxes” that each of the brands on display has been able to customise.
Glory Casa’s visual identity is expressed through suggestive metal arches marking the passage from one space to another: thus, by using an Italian architectural code, the Glory Casa project concept has given a soul and an identity to a showroom that doesn’t aim to just sell luxury products, but to propose a different lifestyle to Chinese customers.
Photography is by Alan Grillo.