sage MixC Shenzhen By say architects: Urban Dockyard Concept for Retail Innovation

In 2025, say architects unveiled the sage MixC Shenzhen store, a 247 m² retail space that embodies the brand’s ethos of “Soft Strength”. Located in Shenzhen, China, the store integrates contemporary retail design with cultural references drawn from the city’s industrial heritage and maritime identity, often described as “Raised by the Sea”. The project transforms the shopping experience by merging architectural narrative, spatial storytelling, and experiential display, redefining how consumers interact with fashion in a dynamic urban context.

Urban Dockyard Concept

The design interprets Shenzhen’s historic shipyards to create an “Urban Dockyard”, where softness and resilience coexist. The store features a transparent glass façade, blurring the boundary between interior and exterior, allowing pedestrians to engage visually with the brand at the city scale. Granite flooring seamlessly extends from outside to inside, reinforcing continuity and the sense of arrival.

Spatial Organization: Front and Rear Zones

The interior is divided into two primary zones:

• Front Zone – Urban Dock: A display area for garments and interactive experiences, featuring four fiberglass display structures arranged in a gentle arc, symbolizing vessels docking along a quay. These installations abstract shipyard corbel structures, lending both sculptural presence and functionality.
• Rear Zone – Support Hull: Houses practical components such as fitting rooms, checkout counters, and storage. A continuous white wall separates the rear from the front zone, maintaining clarity while integrating functional programs.

Materiality and Structural Expression

The fiberglass volumes are monolithic, with internal supports concealed, yielding smooth, refined surfaces. Perforated metal panels act as corbel beams, allowing light and sightlines to flow through the space. Exposed bolts highlight the construction process, creating a dialogue between refined enclosure and visible structural strength. This duality reflects the brand’s feminine yet contemporary aesthetic.

Lighting and Experiential Design

Lighting transforms the space throughout the day. By night, the design shifts focus from the architecture itself to the garments on display, emphasizing the interaction between robust textures and soft textiles. This interplay reinforces the Urban Dockyard narrative, where structural strength supports delicate experiences, echoing the brand’s design philosophy.

The sage MixC Shenzhen store demonstrates how architecture, retail design, and cultural identity can converge to create an immersive, narrative-driven shopping environment. By referencing the city’s maritime heritage while integrating modern materials and lighting strategies, say architects crafted a space where softness and strength harmonize, engaging visitors with both form and function.

All the photographs are works of  Wen Studio