Q-FLAVORFUL Grand Tang Mall

"Seeking a place for the brand to dwell within a cultural landmark.“

The new Q-Flavorful store is located in the core cultural district of Xi'an, beneath the iconic "Lighthouse" building of the Qujiang Art Museum. With its unique lantern shape and red travertine facade, the building has become a landmark in the area. In addition, the store is situated to the south of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and within the Datang Everbright City commercial district, enjoying natural cultural foot traffic and commercial vitality.

Against this backdrop, the core design proposition of the XIAOOU OFFICE team was: how to use this highly advantageous cultural location and architectural condition to shape a brand space that can both blend in harmoniously and stand out, leaving an unforgettable impression on visitors. To this end, the design team took the "dragon," a core image embodying local culture, as the narrative thread, deriving the spatial design logic of "nest—scales—egg," aiming to create a deeply immersive experience venue that reinforces Q-Flavorful's unique brand identity.

Order—Surface

The facade design continues the sense of volume and order of the museum building above. Taking the building's original column framework as the central axis, the designers created a symmetrical and guiding entrance form. The initial scheme was designed as a semicircular recessed curved glass interface, pushing the building's original two columns outside the door and forming an overall recessed pattern on the facade, creating a unique sense of transitional ritual.

However, due to fire safety code requirements, and because there is a stairwell leading to the second basement floor on the left side, the entrance formed a structural misalignment with the cylindrical building above. To reshape the visual order of the entrance, the final scheme was adjusted to a one-sided inward push. Taking the building's original columns as the central axis, the design team added an LED door frame and a recessed arc shape, and combined them with customized dynamic lighting patterns to strengthen the symmetrical relationship, achieving harmony and unity between the entrance and the building as a whole.

At the same time, the space released on the right side was transformed into a complete glass display window interface. Because the store adopts a sunken layout, the height difference between the entrance steps and the street easily weakens the storefront's presence. To address this, we installed a bread matrix installation within the display window, using strong visual signage to clearly define the store's identity and effectively attract passing foot traffic.

The facade features a specially arranged matrix of "bread stars." Each one is replicated from a real bread sample, transforming the concept of "bread as a daily gift" (in this project, unlike other Q-Flavorful stores, the meaning of "gift" extends from baked products to souvenirs carrying Xi'an's urban memory) into a touchable and perceptible art array.

Construction—Nest

To create the sheltering feeling of a "nest," the design team cleverly used the building's original columns, transforming them into the spatial skeleton. The columns stand on the left and right, shaped like a coiled dragon extending its claws, forming a natural wrapping posture. The design team connected the columns with continuous metal walls, constructing the imagery of a "dragon city wall." The walls create a unique tension between the cold metallic texture and the soft curved wrapping, further strengthening the overall atmosphere of enclosure and shelter.

The "wrapping" feeling of the nest is also carried through the details of the space. From the macro spatial framework to the micro material touchpoints, all details work together to reinforce the overall spatial experience of the "nest.“

At both ends of the space, the XIAOOU OFFICE team originally planned to use the building's floor height to set up a "Dragon Viewing Terrace," paired with a spiraling staircase, creating a ceremonial structural form that could attract visitors to stop and take photos. Although the original plan was cancelled due to the building's load-bearing limitations, through flexible adjustment, the original staircase concept was transformed into a spiral path winding upward around a column. With the form of a "roaming dragon coiling around a pillar," this design not only continues the symbolic meaning of climbing high to gaze far, but also allows the visual focus to converge.

Texture—Scales

In shaping the texture of the "dragon city wall," the XIAOOU OFFICE team continued the abstract vocabulary of the "dragon." In the early stage of the scheme, it was envisioned that sheet-like metal scales would be pieced together on the wall to simulate the fine shimmer of dragon scales. However, after construction simulation, it was found that this scheme could lead to visual clutter and make installation precision difficult to guarantee.

Therefore, the design team optimized the implementation method: transforming the scale form into linear metal strips and arranging them through parametric design, outlining an abstract and dynamic scale pattern. This not only solved construction difficulties, but also gave the wall a flowing rhythm.

On this basis, the raised circular dot details on the surface of the metal bricks are precisely a localized translation of the armor patterns of the Terracotta Warriors. This subtle detail establishes a profound and ingenious cultural connection between modern abstract aesthetics and the historical memory of the ancient capital.

When the gaze is guided upward from the parametric wall texture, the mirrored stainless steel material used throughout the ceiling comes into view. The material reflects and infinitely extends the depth of the space—when customers look up, the giant dragon installation in the atrium connects with its reflection, as if a roaming dragon is about to break through the ceiling, greatly strengthening the drama and immersion of the space.

Core—Egg

The "egg" symbolizes the origin of life and energy, and is the spiritual core of the entire spatial narrative—such as the central giant dragon installation and the surrounding light and shadow design, which together form the metaphor of "incubation.“

When customers choose bread around the giant dragon installation, they have imperceptibly become part of the brand narrative. This space, with "incubation" as its metaphor, is completed through its interaction with consumers—every stop and purchase by customers participates in and witnesses the growth and maturity of the Q-Flavorful brand.

Conclusion

More than baking—revitalizing ancient city elements with commercial vitalityAfter the project began operation, the design team observed that the operator had ingeniously added calligraphic characters reading "Chang'an" at the mouth of the bread dragon. This ingenious detail is deeply loved by visitors and has become a photo spot. This makes the interaction between space and people more vivid, continuously radiating new vitality.

Looking back at the early stage of the project, the XIAOOU OFFICE team admitted: "Our thinking about the baking business was once limited to the logic of 'selling goods.' After in-depth research into local consumers' preference for wheat-based foods, and combining it with the characteristics of the Datang

Everbright City scenic area, we reimagined the project positioning: extracting some classic cultural elements of the ancient city of Xi'an and translating them through modern design language to achieve a truly localized expression. At the same time, Xi'an's urban planning with a central axis similar to Beijing's also subtly aligns with the concept of the 'dragon vein.' Therefore, this spatial narrative is no longer guided only by decorative or operational efficiency clues, but integrates more deeply into the exploration of regional culture and individual expression." In the future, the design team looks forward to exploring more multi-dimensional projects of this kind: using traditional Chinese culture as the foundation and youthful contemporary design as the brushwork, shaping spatial experiences that combine cultural depth with commercial vitality.