The interior design was approached based on the concept of one word, ‘Deriving’ – indicating TRONGYEE’s evolution and developing something new from the matrix.

The brief

TRONGYEE, a brand that established in 1999, entrusted AD ARCHITECTURE to reshape its 90m2 store, situated in a bustling commercial block in downtown Shantou. The brand planned for the new and improved store to house exclusive designer-branded garments in a bid to reactivate its brand identity and bring new vitality to the city’s commercial field. Working with the space, AD ARCHITECTURE applied a design method which heavily focused on art installations to approach the project, injected by artistic quality and modern aesthetics.

First impressions

Directly presenting the brand’s image, the storefront was an essential element for TRONGYEE that required careful consideration. To enhance the brand’s image and inject a touch of modernity to the front, the designers at AD ARCHITECTURE opted for a neat facade accompanied by low-intensity lighting to directly guide the sightline into the indoor space. The ultra-clear glass also exposes the interior, which provides a break between the surrounding noisy ambience of the street.

Contemporary interiors

Moving inside, visitors will recognise the designers’ use of a more ‘flat’, one-dimensional design theme, in line with current trends. To enhance this scheme, the floor, walls and ceiling have been fabricated from the same material to alleviate any three-dimensional sense of space.

Shapes and textures

Geometric shapes and curves are interwoven throughout the store, which enriches the form of the space and creates quirky visual illusions for visitors. The store widely utilises regular square blocks, which are complemented by the vaults on the ceiling and arched door openings. Those arched structures break the calmness of the space and add a vivid character to the store. Moving upstairs, the mezzanine is a mere 2.2m-high, so to enhance its appearance and play further upon visual illusions, the AD ARCHITECTURE team clad its ceiling with a reflective material. This substrate features ripple-like patterns, which eliminates any feeling of oppression and blurs the boundary of the space.

Making a statement

The overall space is dominated by a grey hue rendered by an industrial-style cement and highlighted with a vivid red shade. The two hues form a strong, statement-making contrast and present an impressive brand image for TRONGYEE’s brand-new boutique. AD ARCHITECTURE’s TRONGYEE boutique project is a true exploration of sustainable value for the future of urban commercial spaces. The practice conceived the design concept by considering commercial value as a priority; which has led to a design that has derived from the core of TRONGYEE.