Yin and Yang for a showroom designed by JG Phoenix

We have to admit that designing showrooms is an art form in itself. More and more often, these spaces dedicated to the display of materials and products are immersive environments where history and atmosphere rather than merely the wares form the centre of the project.  Because only by creating an engaging personal experience is it possible to gain the loyalty of the consumer who, in principle, can buy anything from home, where the world is there at the click of a mouse.
To create the Fusion Danilo Paint showroom in Shantou - a metropolis with a population of over 5 million in the Guangdong province, southern China - the design team started by creating an environment that would foster an immersive experience, a real escape from routine, to make the decision of what colour to paint their home a special moment. 
In the words of the designers from Jingu Phoenix Space Planning Organization, “Water nourishes all creatures in a silent manner. Soil provides a solid foundation for everything.” They believe that paint in its most basic form can be made by blending these two elements. Special effect paint comes from the combination of water and colour and uses unique artistic expression to show various textures. So the designers opted to convey the subtle relationship between water and earth, based on the natural laws of interdependence of Yin and Yang: opposing forces in the natural world can actually be complementary or interconnected.
They used paint of different textures to create staged settings, constructing a series of artistic spaces with a looping circulation to encourage visitors to explore, reflect and encounter surprises. From the moment they step into the showrooms, visitors are met with interior design that quickly removes them from the outside world. Their journey - surrounded by white walls - leads them on a discovery tour of art. The Yin and Yang symbol is embedded in the floor of the first hall.  Yin is embodied by a sunken, rippling pool of water. Alongside that, the curved wall with an opening and the thick white stone wall are interconnected.  The stone wall is unified with the ceiling, where an irregularly shaped skylight echoes the pool on the floor.  The design of this bright hall conveys the idea that rainwater falls from the sky to nourish the soil and everything else.
So each hall in the looped showroom has a unique feature, from the vermillion-painted curved wall contrasting with the concrete, the orange combined with wood and metal, cutouts, light and shadow with fluid, organic shapes. Indeed, the showroom is simply a ring layout. “There is no boundary between the beginning and end of time”, explain the creatives from JG Phoenix - otherwise known as Jingu Phoenix Space Planning Organization. Everything comes together in the spatial narrative of a truly unique experience, where visitors find themselves in a timeless space with a dreamlike feel, “immersed in the moment where time stands still”—the perfect moment to get the inspiration to decide how to decorate their homes.
The Danilo Paint showroom by JG Phoenix in Shantou is a real example of architectural storytelling, which is successful at setting a mood that engages with the customer to then be transposed into a fruitful business.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: JINGU PHOENIX SPACE PLANNING ORGANIZATION (WWW.JINGFH.COM) 
Chief designers | Ye Hui, Zeng Dongxu
Design team | JINGU PHOENIX SPACE PLANNING ORGANIZATION
Decoration team | Feng Qi Wu Tong
Construction firm | Wan You Yin Li
Location | Shantou, Guangdong, China
Year: 2020
Photographer | Ouyang Yun