Historic Site Reborn

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ABOVE: Lighting was carefully incorporated to avoid damaging the original architectural elements; some LED lighting was embedded into the glass dome and bronze tubes were used to ensure no nails were used in the marble columns.

FORMER BANK ADDS NEW LIGHTING WITH NEW LIGHTING WITH EXTRA SHOT OF CARE EXTRA SHOT OF CARE

STARBUCKS FLAGSHIP RESERVE STORE Tianjin, China

Innovation can lend a timeless quality to many things—coffee and architecture included. The new Starbucks flagship Reserve store in Tianjin, China, which has been lauded as thoughtfully bringing new life to a 100-year-old site, is a perfect example of this sentiment. “Beyond preserving the century old architecture in its fullest form, the Starbucks flagship store has also made creative use of its unique features,” said Luo Shuwei, famous historian and senior academic researcher from the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. “Starbucks partners have shown great passion and dedication to ensure that every design detail is in harmony with the original architectural style, to create a warm and welcoming ambience that is also filled with history.” The 1921 building, designed by Shen Liyuan, is an iconic city landmark that originally housed a bank and the architecture reflects the scale and grandeur that was popular for these types of projects at that time. The lighting, designed by a team at WEGO Lighting Design Co., has been updated to highlight the preserved architectural features, while improving functionality and creating the right ambience for coffeehouse culture. The high intensity floodlights that illuminated the Greek-style exterior were replaced with 2200K LED fixtures. Inside, lighting was carefully, and ingeniously, incorporated to avoid damaging the original architectural elements. Instead of relying on typical installation methods, some LED lighting was embedded into the glass dome and bronze tubes were used creatively to ensure that no nails were stuck into the imported marble columns. Color temperature was used to create definition within the space and develop visual interest.•