A New Branded Architectural Language for 甘其食BAOBAO

LineHouse was appointed to design a new branded architectural language for a store called 甘其食BAOBAO.   Finished in 2015, the firm has successfully completed the project located at Chifeng Road, Shanghai, China.  BAOBAO is known as the first of many stores located in the streets of China and later the United States specializing in traditional Chinese street food baozi, a steamed bun with vegetable, meat, or sweet filling.

甘其食BAOBAO

In front of the shop, you can see the cutout BAOBAO logo displayed in a darker shade of wood and placed into a pivoting panel. The same logo is also displayed on the exterior shelf.

LineHouse designed a spatial narrative coupled with the brand’s ‘from a garden to plate, using the freshest vegetables in handcrafted baozi’ ethos. To realize the ethos, the firm came with the concept of a glassy greenhouse building where the plants are tending and growing. For the shop, the greenhouse concept was realized by incorporating hand glazed green tiles as well as two tones of wood and glass. It reaches out to the street, functioning a leaner for customers where they can also see the activities inside.

A Series of Greenhouse Frameworks

The firm also brought out a series of greenhouse frameworks. The frameworks consist of the greenhouse occupied by the  BAOBAO’s chefs where they can show off their performance of handcrafting, rolling, and steaming the baozi.

Above, a shelf engulfs the framework with draped greenery and branded icons marked on the rear surface.

Below, a high leaner also engulfs the structure with the addition of hanging lights to highlight the customer area. With the lighting, the customers are able to observe the kitchen activity from their tables.

A Sense of Garden Path

The service or cashier area went with a wheelbarrow and garden tools idea. This area provides menu boards hanged from above. Meanwhile, in the customer area, you can see bluestone cobbles line the floor, emerging the sense of garden path and emphasizing the streetscape beyond. Two leaner tables are arranged adjacently to the greenhouse. Here you can also see the wood panels rested on a framework with white metal through to function as a mechanism for the light fixture above.

Via LineHouse