WUUX designs 'beijing youli' retail store for zhima health

WUUX completes ‘beijing youli’ store as a disruptive retail experience for zhima health

as a leader in the transformation and upgrade of time-honored brands, china-based zhima health invited designer wang yong from studio WUUX to put in place ‘beijing youli’, a spellbinding retail store within a 30 sqm space at the universal beijing resort. with its warm-toned surfaces and 3D ceiling installation, the shop offers visitors a disruptive and equally immersive consumer experience at the heart of the city.

all images © zheng yan

the opening of zhima health’s ‘beijing youli’ store at the universal beijing resort has pooled nearly 30 local time-honored brands alongside international names. on top of functionality and social networking, the space is expected to offer strong emotional value for consumers, which WUUX (see more here) has addressed as a first challenge. the second challenge is the space itself – an area of less than 30 sqm.

given its relatively compact size, yong has worked out a way to minimize the feeling of confinement by adding a ‘fourth’ dimension based on a 3D design concept.

reflective surfaces elevate the mesmerizing ceiling design

a 30 sqm ‘metaverse’ seemingly bending time and space with a 3d ceiling installation

yong wanted to target a customer group through a new architectural style that conforms to the resort culture, caters to the youth’s diversified preferences, complies with zhima health’s brand identity, and fits within the limited space. as a result, he drew inspiration from inception, multi-dimensionality, fashion, and traditional brand design to deliver a space that is part in vogue, part sci-fi, and part friendly.

‘beijing youli’ has pooled almost 30 local time-honored brands

taking advantage of the high ceiling, yong has deployed numerous towering wooden arches that intersect at the top and extend downwards to the bottom of the rammed earth walls where product shelves are mounted. additionally, four impressive pairs of life-size wooden spiral stairs thread through the arches. the final space echoes the shape of an unfolded accordion that’s bending time and space — creating a sort of retail ‘metaverse’ with mirrors that dramatize the ceiling design.

yong has transformed the space into a sort of 30 sqm ‘metaverse’

concluding his design approach, yong says: ‘a whole glass on the ceiling and one side of the wall, together with the stretching structures that present a distortion in time and space, seems to have eliminated the boundary of the room and distorted time in a dazzling way. with light projecting from underneath the ground and structured light belts on the arches, a metaverse is throwing its arms wide open to all customers.’

wooden arches complementing the life-size spiral stairs