Shanghai, China

With an exterior screen composed of 6,988 handcrafted glass “diamonds” that reflect and refract their surroundings during the day to create a sparkling effect and feature LED lighting at night to allow the store to shine in an infinite range of colors, MVRDV’s façade of Tiffany & Co.’s store in the Taikoo-Li Qiantan retail development evokes clear associations with Tiffany’s renowned jewelry designs.

The store’s façade incorporates a distinct element from the local environment, drawing inspiration from the vibrant and colorful light displays of Shanghai’s skyline.

To achieve this, the project integrates low-energy, color-changing LED lighting at both the top and bottom of the façade.

This setup allows the façade to be illuminated in any color, including the iconic Tiffany Blue, with each hue enhanced by the refractive effects of the glass diamonds.

The glass elements of the façade are arranged to create the impression of being haphazardly dispersed, thinning out for better visibility where necessary, like next to the café on the first floor of the building.

Each one weighs 1.5 kg and measure 21 centimeters in width and 13 centimeters in height. 

The glass diamonds are suspended from thin, highly tensioned steel cables that are sandwiched between the structure’s top and bottom frames and finished with a mirrored steel coating.

They are secured in place by tiny, inconspicuous steel fixtures specifically designed to prevent any movement or spinning.

MVRDV has also created mechanical connections, which means that it can be disassembled entirely and its components recycled or repurposed in the future.

Project: Tiffany Façade Shanghai Taikoo-Li
Architects: MVRDV
Lead Architect: Jacob van Rijs
Design Team: Aser Gimenez Ortega, Elien Deceuninck, Simone Costa, Monica Di Salvo, Xiaoyi Qin, Türker Naci Şaylan, and Natalia Lipczuk
Client: Tiffany & Co.
Photographs: Courtesy of Wen Studio and Tiffany & Co.