SKP-S
Opened in December 2019, SKP-S is a one-of-a-kind environment, an incubator for global brands and their followers to immerse themselves and experiment with their future selves. Designed by London-based architecture firm Sybarite, the 19,000 sqm space is to be navigated through a purposefully ever-changing landscape. On each floor, a different perspective and exclusive identity is to be interpreted.
In a bold move, Sybarite has teamed up with Gentle Monster, the Seoul-based eyewear brand known for its bold and highly evocative retail design, to create premises fit for today's generation of digital-savvy shoppers. The Gentle Monster creates numerous theatrical settings based on the theme Digital-Analog Future and the assumption that in the distant future technical leaps will allow mankind to blur the boundaries between human and digital realms, and as such, new forms of evolution.
The entire project is anchored by the continuously evolving Art Experiment Space on the ground floor which opened with a first edition entitled Future Farm, featuring the development of digital science and technology through a setting in which machines have taken over the planet, and information and artificial intelligence manipulates human memories. AI replicants create a virtual reality inside the space where the border between dreams and reality fades, clones of robotic sheep breathe, move, and sound identical to their original sources.
On the ground floor, there is also a cosmetics shop which examines the unprecedented aesthetic trends of Mars. The skincare zone displays objects and plants representing the beauty of the Red Planet and the bar and salon offer new experiences through a rotation of settings.
One floor up, Xu Zhen's sculptures and Daniel Rozin's kinetic penguins interact within the artificial landscape of the future. The select shop examines Martian history and sees Future Martians evolve with new DNA, but nostalgic for earthly origins, they work to rediscover their past. A model of the spacecraft that transported the first settlers to Mars stands at the entrance as a symbol. The floor's spatial design and objects explore the history of Martians' lives, wars, and power, featuring a women's and men's zone, a so-called soft corner, and a fashion accessories zone filled with items from fashion's upper echelon. The first floor houses top tier luxury brands and their alter egos.
On the second floor, iconic and cult streetwear brands stand alongside emerging talents. The colour and material palette is light – industrial in feel with terrazzo of varying shades, polished concrete ceiling coves and backlit glass vitrines.
The third floor features a shoe retail space depicting Mars Rediscovery a.k.a. the future after the future in which a new species of digitalised humans examines their history through past media and relics of the first settlement on Mars. The floor is divided into several zones, each featuring a specific style. Gentle Monster's very own store can be found here as well, and the design is inspired by a new humankind travelling through a wormhole between Mars and Earth. Last but not least, there's Nudake a.k.a. Mars Café where shoppers can recharge in between power shopping sprees in a matching environment.
In the basement, find many inspired food offers from fine dining experiences to restaurants and street food; all in an industrial feel with terrazzo flooring, concrete walls and exposed ceiling.
86 Jianguo Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China