{"id":263184,"date":"2025-09-15T12:52:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?page_id=263184"},"modified":"2025-09-15T12:52:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T16:52:02","slug":"casa-curiel-chongqing-china-flagship-liang-architecture-studio","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/casa-curiel-chongqing-china-flagship-liang-architecture-studio\/","title":{"rendered":"Set The Stage For Fashionable Drama At Casa Curiel Chongqing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For Casa Curiel in Chongqing, the southwest China flagship for the legacy Italian women\u2019s fashion brand, Liang Architecture Studio centered the two-story boutique around a monumental limestone staircase with the look of swirling fabric.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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September 15, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n

Words: <\/span>Elizabeth Fazzare<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography: <\/span>Hanmo (Hangzhou) Photography Co.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Set The Stage For Fashionable Drama At Casa Curiel Chongqing<\/h1>\n\n\n

To bring the spirit of Curiel, a century-old Milanese women\u2019s fashion brand, to southwest China, Liang Architecture Studio<\/a> founder and design director Liang Xu pulled inspiration from one of the Italian city\u2019s most beloved cultural buildings. \u201cWe extracted elements of Teatro alla Scala to tell the story of the brand through opera,\u201d explains Xu of his concept for the recently completed, 9,700-square-foot Casa Curiel in Chongqing, which was soon followed by Casa Curiel Beijing, as the legacy label establishes a strategic foothold in China\u2019s luxury retail sector. While \u201cthe three-act structure of an opera helped lay out our spatial circulation,\u201d Xu continues, the physical parts of a theater stage provided a tool kit of shapes for the interior architecture. Moving through the two-story Chongqing shop feels like an event itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theatrical experience begins upon encountering the facade, a parabolic form of red anodized aluminum that appears like a curtain parting over the entrance and large windows. Once inside, the upscale garments are \u201cthe protagonists of the La Scala stage,\u201d Xu adds, displayed on mannequins nestled in built-in apses with limestone wainscoting. Across the two levels, custom clothing racks\u2014including limestone- paneled versions on the ground floor and handsome brass-paneled ones in the upstairs VIP lounge\u2014and red-travertine vitrines also offer these luxurious wares, including collections of evening dresses fit for a night out at the opera. (Curiel identifies itself as the \u201cItalian pioneer of the little black dress\u201d.) A monumental central stair whisks visitors up to the second level, where the most climactic experiences occur\u2014personalized shopping in the VIP rooms, each space decorated with bespoke furnishings, or a meal in the Curiel Salon restaurant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiel\u2019s Flagship Channels The Drama Of The Stage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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For Casa Curiel in Chongqing, the southwest China flagship for the legacy Italian women\u2019s fashion brand, Liang Architecture Studio centered the two-story boutique around a monumental limestone staircase with the look of swirling fabric.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Xu\u2019s architectural inspiration alludes to the history of the Curiel fashion house itself, founded in 1908 by Ortensia Curiel and associated with the arts staged at La Scala since 1945, when the brand\u2019s second-generation heir, Gigliola Curiel, created singers\u2019 costumes for premieres. The swirling movement of these artists in silk informed the boutique\u2019s statement staircase, a freestanding limestone spiral with marble steps, its ridged exterior accepting diffused light from the illuminated rotunda it sits within. Above the upper landing, a dome features a decorative plaster rosette and hand-painted lacquer detailing, a new technical exploration for Xu\u2019s studio that pays \u201chomage to the spirit of Italian craftsmanship,\u201d he describes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milanese craft also influenced the project\u2019s material palette. Downstairs, limestone clads archways and builds pilasters and decorative lintels over clothing rack niches. Upstairs, the portals that welcome visitors into the VIP area and Curiel Salon are built with more red travertine and Doric-style bluestone columns. Marble and oak parquet flooring tap into this historic tradition, too. Through their saturated hues, these natural materials create moments of visual focus within the largely neutral environment and mark transitions into the more exclusive spaces. Only the VIP area features a non-neutral wall color: a sunsetlike mural that brings warmth and a pleasantly soft contrast to the dresses that hang in front of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liang Architecture Studio Weaves Natural Hues Into The Showroom<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Classical architecture\u2013inspired limestone-lined archways.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sightlines through the stair to the domed ceiling with a custom medallion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A custom clothing rack of patinated brass panels in the VIP lounge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe interior is decorated with light colors, intended to draw attention to the detail of the clothing,\u201d Xu explains. However, his design is \u201cnot only the fusion of architecture and fashion but also the interspersing of East and West,\u201d he adds. With the flagship sited on Minzu Road, Chongqing\u2019s main shopping street, Xu and his team incorporated a reference to the city\u2019s weaving heritage inside it, as well. Diffused lighting casts shadows reminiscent of bamboo weave onto the domed painted ceiling over one room in the VIP lounge, bringing this very ancient Chinese tradition into a 21st-century form. This playful mix of old and new extends to the room\u2019s furnishings, which include contemporary pieces\u2014a tightly tailored sofa upholstered in fine linen, a low sculptural wooden table\u2014paired with a yesteryear Tuscany\u2013inspired fireplace mantel. A portrait of Raffaella Curiel, the current and third-generation successor of Curiel, is displayed over the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Xu conceived of movement throughout Casa Curiel as a tripart opera itself\u2014with the first-floor overture, staircase crescendo, and second-story climax\u2014he also formulated a real theater within this conceit. In Curiel Salon, pink marble\u2013topped oak tables are arranged around a stage, swagged in red velvet curtains and ripe to host performances. Apses are filled with intimate chenille-upholstered booths, romantically lit by fringed pendant fixtures. The same frill covers the backs of some armchairs. Photographs of historic Curiel fashions and designers line the walls, surrounding the room in the brand\u2019s own archive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embrace The Stylish Spirit Of Milan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Travertine slabs and Doric-style bluestone columns with blackened-elm pilasters form a monumental portal to Curiel Salon, the restaurant on the second floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to create a scene with Milanese architectural culture to draw people into Curiel\u2019s history,\u201d Xu says. However, he has also created a space where the brand can begin to build its future\u2014through new customers in a new market. Perhaps it might first be played out on the Curiel Salon stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curiel Stages An Ode To The Opera In This Chongqing Flagship<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The anodized-aluminum facade was parametrically designed to appear like a curtain parting over the entry and windows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Theatrical arched niches are inspired by the Teatro alla Scala opera house in Milan, where the century-old Curiel has its roots. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The dome capping the staircase features a decorative plaster rosette and illuminated concentric detailing that\u2019s been hand lacquered.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Custom travertine vitrines surround the stair, its marble balustrades subtly illuminated by integral LED strips.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The curvature and ribbed exterior of the stair were inspired by flowing silk. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Diffused lighting casts shadows reminiscent of Chinese bamboo weave in the elliptical dome over the VIP lounge, its custom furnishings standing on oak parquet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Fringe also surrounds the custom pendant fixture appointing a recess, finished in Venetian plaster. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A tied-back velvet curtain reveals an intimate restaurant dining area, with seating upholstered in chenille or linen fringe and a table topped in marble, all custom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Keeping with the project\u2019s theatricality, some Curiel Salon tables are oriented toward a stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Linen upholstery reappears on the custom sofa in the VIP lounge, where a photograph of Raffaella Curiel, the third-generation owner of the brand, hangs above a custom antique-looking fireplace mantel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
PROJECT TEAM<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

LIANG ARCHITECTURE STUDIO:<\/strong> ZHOU ZESI; YU JIANZHI; ZE MAN; HU XINPING; LU XIN; CHEN WEIXIN; ZHANG XUAN; XU LIANG. CAPITAL CLASSICS: <\/strong>CUSTOM FURNITURE WORKSHOP. SHANGHAI FUJI CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING CO.: <\/strong>GENERAL CONTRACTOR.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRODUCT SOURCES<\/h6><\/div>\n\n\n\n

THROUGHOUT<\/strong> CENTURY WIND: <\/strong>CURTAIN VELVET. COZAN; NEKO:<\/strong> LIGHTING. YAMAUCHI:<\/strong> PAINT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n