Gensler Spotlight: Greater China

When the first Cadillac House opened five years ago in New York, it was a marketing coup for a city not ordinarily associated with the automotive industry. The branded experience environment not only successfully merges social space with car displays but it also won a 2016 Interior Design Best of Year Award. The former has happened again in the second outpost of Cadillac House, completed by Gensler New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Shanghai.

“It’s a good example of our firm’s integrated design thinking and col­laboration amongst diverse talent,” says New York–based principal and creative director John Bricker, who returned to work with the client, General Motors. He was joined by Shanghai-based senior associate Richard Chang, who led the 68,889-square-foot project. “Cadillac speaks to a different target here than in the States,” Chang adds. “Young and successful, this audience relates to characteristics like modern, craftsmanship, design, technology—all of which we reflected on for Cadillac House.”

The result is a ground-up, highly efficient building, its aerodynamic stainless steel–clad upper portion capping a bronze-and-glass base, all surrounded by a reflecting pond. Inside, a crisp white gypsum-board staircase, anchored by a Cadillac CT6, spirals up the site’s three levels, taking visitors on a sensory trip of discovery and immersion. There is a 3D badge timeline wall, digital storytelling columns, and souvenir 3D customization—even a VR experience looking into the car factory. “The New York project was about lifting awareness of Cadillac,” Bricker explains, “but, here, we focused on the intro­duction of the brand.”

Gensler: John Bricker; William Hartman; Brian Vitale; EJ Chung; Min Chu; Richard Chang; Jonathan Tyler; Hyesook Auh; Lingyi Chen