Italian fashion house Prada has completed the renovation and expansion of its showcase store in Xi’an, China.

The 450sqm single level store designed by architect Roberto Baciocchi is housed inside the fashionable Zhongda International Mall. It sells women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, leather goods, accessories and footwear collections.

The external facade pays tribute to French-Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, one of the leaders of the kinetic art movement, an innovative form of dynamic expression with a strong visual impact.

Large light boxes and windows are inserted into the lower part of the facade, which is clad in black marble and crowned by an imposing gold and steel-coloured aluminium structure backlit to create a unique kinetic effect both day and night.

The entrance leads to a display area exclusively dedicated to women and designed as a succession of rooms, each featuring a different atmosphere.

In the first room – defined by the distinctive black and white marble chequered flooring – green fabric-clad walls serve as an elegant backdrop for polished steel display cases inserted into marble niches and hosting the leather goods collections.

The space dedicated to the women’s ready-to-wear collection is defined by an intimate, elegant atmosphere, with green fabric-clad walls and perspex display cases exalting the products.

The area devoted to footwear is characterised by display niches, framed by polished steel profiles and cut into green fabric-clad walls and by green velvet sofas.

The space dedicated to men features masculine materials and finishes: ebony floorboards and walls, dark brown carpets and light cotto-coloured leather sofas. Polished steel shelves and display counters with drawers covered in saffiano leather complete the furnishing.