MVRDV recycles champagne bottles for Bulgari’s latest jade-coloured storefront in Shanghai

Dutch practice, MVRDV has completed the new Bulgari store located in Shanghai Plaza 66, fitted with a jade façade made of recycled champagne and beer bottles.

The façade panels are manufactured to resemble China’s most precious stone, jade, when in fact it is made of recycled bottles. MVRDV explores circularity by demonstrating the potential of sustainable recycled materials in the luxury context.

Manufactured in Germany, the panels are compressed green glass which is completely recycled and creates a unique texture with a translucent finish. This is especially legible at night due to the façade backlight, which gives it a striking glow and highlights its textural quality.

The backlight is also optimised to minimise the façade energy footprint, using less than half the energy of a typical size installation.

This is MVRDV’s third project for the Italian brand, Bulgari, employing the same cornice motif used across all their designs for the brand. Layered panels create an Art-Deco-inspired pattern, but the front store façade remains windowless, unlike their other methods.

 

“Our collaboration with Bulgari has yielded some fascinating material experiments,” says MVRDV founding partner, Jacob van Rijs.

 

He continues, “It’s a passion we share with them, albeit in different design disciplines. The Shanghai store encapsulates the value of these experiments: given the right treatment and detailing, leftover champagne and beer bottles, which would otherwise be thrown away, become a jewel for the city.”

Inspired by several of Shanghai’s Art-Deco buildings, due to its crucial port status in the past and Bulgari’s Deco collection, the façade’s brass trim and green glass gives it an appearance of jade jewellery.

Inspired by the original Bulgari store in Rome to Shanghai’s unique Art-Deco architecture, this project is a step forward in creating sustainable and fully circular facades, remaining true to the heritage of both Bulgari and Shanghai.

 

 

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PROJECT DETAILS

Project Name: Bulgari Shanghai
Location: Shanghai, China
Year: 2021
Client: Bulgari
Size and Programme: 274m2 retail façade
Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Jacob van Rijs
Partner: Fokke Moerel
Design Team: Jacob van Rijs, Fokke Moerel, Aser Gimenez Ortega, Simone Costa, Giovanni Nardi, Elien Deceuninck
Director MVRDV Asia: Steven Smit
MVRDV Asia Team: Ruochen Zhang, Carmen Xu
Images: © Bulgari, © Xia Zhi
Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries
Glass manufacture: MAGNA Glaskeramic GmbH
Contractor: RICH HONOUR International Design Co., Ltd