An Asian retail store where architecture, Reputation, and cultural sensibilities intersect. Architecture often reveals itself not in grand gestures but in nuanced responses to specific communities. Ichiba, a boutique asian store designed by SIAN Architects, emerges as one such response, crafted for the growing Japanese and Korean Foreigner communities residing in Gurugram. The first store, housed in a Updated wine shop, Worked more as a stopgap than a spatial statement. With its second Repetition at AIPL Joy Central, a Multi-use development, the studio had a clean slate, a rare chance to explore how Minor design can operate more Wisely and feel more Naturally designed.
This Asian Store In Gurugram Reveals A Japanese Design Statement | Sian Architects
Located at a corner site, the asian store is part of a larger ecosystem of cafes, cinemas, and housing. Its presence had to serve both routine shoppers and evening foot traffic, while also offering something distinct: an environment attuned to the preferences of Japanese and Korean residents, without resorting to aesthetic shorthand.
In retail, architecture rarely stands alone, branding is what grounds it, and makes it truly belong. Without it, even the most refined spatial gestures risk fading into anonymity. At Ichiba, branding was an integral part of the design process. It emerged through use, observation, and close collaboration, becoming a system of cues that give form to function and identity to space. The asian store occupies a modest 700 sq. ft. footprint, yet achieves triple the anticipated storage capacity by introducing a mezzanine floor.
More than nine product categories–ranging from ramen and seaweed to teas, snacks, and wellness items–are distributed across the floor and mezzanine, each distinctly zoned. The designers arrange shelves and gondolas, designed in custom woodwork, height-wise, gradually ascending from the store’s entrance to clearly present product categories from every vantage point. This careful orchestration of vertical elements facilitates intuitive navigation, transforming mundane acts of grocery shopping into comfortable rituals.
Ramen, the store’s most popular product, became a starting point for visual language. It inspired a series of red, 3D metal forms suspended from the ceiling, referenced as ‘noodles’, that conceal services while directing movement. Star motifs appear across the façade and interior, integrated into elevations, door handles, and signage.
Custom wooden gondolas feature soft arch profiles, topped with illustrative icons co-developed by the client. These graphic cues make the store easier to navigate for non-English-speaking users, without feeling themed or overdesigned.
The design consciously avoids cultural clichés, embracing instead a contextually resonant design language. Rather than superficial ornamentation, cultural specificity emerges through nuanced spatial zoning, materiality, and carefully considered branding. This approach allows Ichiba to remain authentically rooted in the cultures it represents without feeling exclusionary or overly specialised.
Color plays a key role in giving the store a distinct identity and reinforcing its branding, with every design element introduced to speak the language of the brand. Materials at Ichiba were chosen to balance visual softness with structural practicality. Wood and powder-coated metal in warm beige and bright red tones form the backdrop for brightly packaged goods.
Lighting is used sparingly and with care: recessed strips light up product displays, while ceiling fixtures blend into the volume. The staircase, detailed in timber with a perforated metal balustrade, functions as circulation and signage, carrying the brand vocabulary into its most tactile elements.
A compact wash-and-weigh station behind the reception allows fresh produce to be cleaned and categorised on-site. Overhead storage above each gondola conceals surplus cartons, behind louvred shutters. The noodle ceiling, built in modular CNC-cut segments, can be dismantled and reused if the store is ever relocated. Lighting is carefully zoned to minimize glare while drawing focus to product categories without overwhelming the eye.
Ichiba transcends its compact scale by influencing user behaviour–guiding shoppers through its intuitive design. The organisation fosters habitual ease, subtly reshaping the daily experience of grocery shopping into something reassuring. Ichiba translates branding and architectural intent into a clear, unified spatial identity, offering a model for small-scale retail design. It shows how a space can feel rooted in its context, yet remain light enough to lift off if and when needed.
Fact File
Designed by: Sian Architects
Project Type: Retail Interior Design
Project Name: Sekai Ichiba
Location: AIPL Joy Central, Gurugram
Year Built: November 2025
Site Area: 700 Sq.ft.
Built-Up Area: 1100 Sq.ft.
Principal Architect: Deepanshu Arneja
Team Design Credits: Siddhant Agarwal & Varsha Sorout
Photograph Courtesy: Naushad Khan
Text Credits: Tanvee Khurana
Name of Client: Jatin Kukreja
Name of Client’s Firm: Asiana Food and Beverage LLP
PRODUCTS / VENDORS / Sanitary ware / Fittings- Carysil / Flooring- Osaanj / Air Conditioning- Mitsubishi / Lighting- Clay Mango, Atcom / Paint- Asian Paints / Refrigeration – Arneg refrigerations Switchboards – Norysis / Quartz – AGL / ACP – Alutech / LED Display – Sunshine LED Display systems
CONSULTANTS: Structural- PDM Structure / Mechanical- Pillarplus / Electrical- SIAN Architects / HVAC- Pillarplus / Plumbing- SIAN Architects / Façade- SIAN Architects / Fit-out Contractor – Timberland
Firm’s Instagram Link: Sian Architects
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