COSMO-INNERCO Store Lighting Design by Lam Lighting Design: Breathing New Life into Urban Retail Spaces

A New Vision for Commercial Spaces

The COSMO-INNERCO Store lighting design project by Lam Lighting Design redefines the conventional retail experience. Located in Chengdu, COSMO is a renovated shopping mall that deliberately breaks away from the expected “luxury commercial complex” aesthetic. Instead, it presents a more experimental, youth-oriented, and interactive spatial experience through innovative lighting design.

Inspiration from Urban Decay and Rebirth

Lam Lighting Design drew conceptual inspiration from Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, who famously stated, “The future of cities is ruins.” The design team embraced this notion by transforming the idea of urban "waste" into a space of rebirth and vitality. Through strategic lighting interventions, they reimagined underutilized architecture into a vibrant social and commercial environment.

INNERCO: A Multi-Sensory Urban Playground

Occupying the second and third floors of COSMO, INNERCO is the project's centerpiece — an expansive 7,600 m² experiential zone. The design maintains the building’s raw industrial character, such as exposed concrete beams and structural elements, and enhances it with modern LED lighting, colorful canopies, and immersive ambient light schemes.

The resulting effect is a dynamic tension between historical materiality and futuristic aesthetics, creating a memorable and layered spatial narrative.

Smart Lighting for Flexible Use

INNERCO is far more than a shopping space — it is a hybrid venue that supports exhibitions, fashion shows, pop-ups, flash mobs, and more. To accommodate this multifunctional vision, Lam Lighting Design implemented intelligent lighting control systems, including DALI and DMX512, which allow real-time adjustments to brightness, color temperature, and focal light.

These systems provide high adaptability and interactivity, enabling the space to transform according to different event needs. Accent lighting, guide spotlights, and flexible zoning elements further amplify this effect, offering brands and retailers unmatched flexibility for display and engagement.

Breaking Traditional Zoning Norms

Unlike conventional malls, INNERCO avoids rigid zoning. Instead, it integrates commercial and public areas through installations, movable props, and open-plan layouts. The lighting strategy supports this blending by using various intensity levels, temperature zones, and visual accents to subtly delineate spatial functions.

Thoughtful Integration of Ambient Light in Restrooms

One of the project’s key highlights is the restroom lighting, where soft film light diffusion creates an ambient glow, while mirror-mounted lights provide direct facial illumination. Under-sink LED strips with warm 2700K tones offer both functionality and atmosphere, enriching the user experience and adding a sense of floating light beneath washbasins.

This careful contrast of warm and cool color temperatures brings depth and mood to an otherwise utilitarian space.

Creating a Shareable, Instagrammable Environment

The lighting design actively encourages visitor engagement — from lingering longer to taking photographs and sharing their experiences. Lam Lighting’s approach supports a composite retail atmosphere, combining commerce, social interaction, and digital storytelling into one cohesive environment.

By prioritizing lighting as an experience design tool, COSMO becomes more than a mall — it becomes a cultural hub for Chengdu’s younger generation.