Study by Shih Han Chen Transforms Retail Spaces into Warm Reading Environments

Examining How the Home Concept in Commercial Interiors Helps Retail Brands Create Inviting, Cohesive Customer Experiences

Picture walking into a six-story retail building and feeling, somehow, like you have just arrived home after a long journey. Your shoulders relax. The colors wrap around you like a favorite sweater. Each floor reveals something new, yet everything feels connected by an invisible thread of warmth that makes you want to stay, browse, and return again. Such emotional resonance is precisely the alchemy that retail brands dream about when they invest in commercial interior design, and creating warmth across multiple levels becomes exponentially more complex when a space spans several stories. How do brands create emotional resonance across vertical real estate while maintaining distinct functional zones? How does one transform a commercial building into an experience that customers carry with them long after they leave?

The questions of warmth and coherence sit at the heart of contemporary retail strategy, where physical spaces must work harder than ever to justify their existence in an increasingly digital marketplace. The answer, as demonstrated by Shih Han Chen in the Study interior design project, lies in borrowing from the most emotionally resonant space humans know: the home. The Study project, based in Taiwan and completed between June and December 2023 for the design-forward brand Thinking Design, spans six floors and 496 square feet of thoughtfully choreographed experience. The design received recognition as a Silver A' Design Award winner in the Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design category for 2025, acknowledging the project's notable approach to creating warmth, coherence, and functional diversity within a single commercial structure. What follows is an exploration of the principles, strategies, and psychological mechanisms that make the home-centered approach so effective for retail brands seeking to create spaces that customers genuinely love.

The Psychology of Home in Commercial Spaces

The concept of home carries profound psychological weight. Neuroscience research consistently demonstrates that environments associated with safety, comfort, and belonging activate specific neural pathways that reduce stress hormones and increase feelings of wellbeing. For retail brands, home-like environments present an extraordinary opportunity. When customers feel at home within a commercial space, they linger longer, engage more deeply with products and services, and develop emotional associations that translate into brand loyalty. The Study project by Shih Han Chen centers the entire design philosophy on the home principle, using what the designer describes as a home-centered concept to help people on different floors feel the warmth brought by a domestic environment.

Creating genuine domestic resonance in commercial spaces demands more than simply adding comfortable furniture or warm lighting. The approach requires attention to spatial rhythm, material authenticity, and the subtle cues that signal safety to the human nervous system. In the Study project, domestic resonance manifests through the strategic use of soft gray-blue tones paired with light wood veneer, creating what the designer describes as an ocean-like reading space. Water imagery in interior design carries its own psychological associations with calm, depth, and natural rhythm, reinforcing the sense of peaceful retreat that characterizes the most beloved homes.

For brands considering how to implement similar principles, the key insight lies in identifying which aspects of domestic comfort translate most powerfully to their specific retail context. A bookstore or reading-focused space, as in the Study project, naturally benefits from associations with personal libraries, cozy reading nooks, and the quiet contemplation that happens in private spaces. A fashion retailer might draw from bedroom and dressing room comfort. A food-related business might invoke the warmth of family kitchens. The specific domestic associations matter less than the commitment to understanding and authentically recreating the emotional qualities that make homes feel like homes.

Vertical Coherence Through Material Strategy

One of the most significant challenges in multi-level commercial design is maintaining coherence across floors while allowing each level to serve distinct functions and create unique experiences. Many retail spaces solve the coherence problem poorly, resulting in buildings that feel like collections of unrelated rooms stacked atop one another. Customers experience disorientation rather than discovery, confusion rather than delight. The Study project addresses the challenge of vertical coherence through a sophisticated approach to material repetition that creates what designers call vertical coherence.

The strategy centers on gray-blue as a unifying visual element. The designer explains that the repeated application of the same material, particularly the gray-blue palette, establishes connection between floors regardless of their individual functional expressions. Whether gray-blue appears as a main color or as an accent, the hue's presence creates a continuous visual thread that guides customers through the vertical journey. The approach represents not mere aesthetic preference but strategic design vocabulary, a consistent language that allows the building to speak with one voice across multiple rooms and levels.

Light wood veneer serves as the complementary element in the gray-blue and wood veneer strategy, adding warmth and natural texture that softens the cooler gray-blue tones. Together, the two materials create a palette that is simultaneously calming and engaging, sophisticated and approachable. For retail brands operating across multiple floors or interconnected spaces, the Study project's approach offers a template for maintaining brand coherence without sacrificing functional diversity. The lesson is clear: identify two to three core material or color elements that can appear consistently throughout your space, then allow the core elements to anchor vastly different functional zones while maintaining the emotional continuity that makes a space feel intentional and cohesive.

Creating Distinct Zones While Preserving Unity

The six floors of the Study project each serve different purposes and express different spatial personalities, yet the floors feel unmistakably part of the same family. The balancing act between distinct zones and unity represents one of commercial design's most sophisticated challenges. The first floor functions primarily as a reading area, featuring a stepped platform that creates a comfortable environment specifically designed for children. The elevated platform approach accomplishes multiple objectives simultaneously: the platform defines a distinct zone, creates visual interest, provides comfortable seating at child-appropriate heights, and signals to families that the first floor welcomes their youngest members.

Moving upward, the mezzanine level takes on what the designer describes as a Japanese atmosphere, combining reading, meeting, and eating functions. The Japanese atmosphere brings with it associations of mindfulness, simplicity, and intentional living that complement the broader home concept while offering a distinct experiential flavor. The second floor shifts again, presenting a classic American style study room complete with the image of a book wall, glass display case, and fireplace. A two-way seated sofa anchors the second floor, meeting reading needs while preserving the possibility of private, intimate use.

What makes the zone-based approach successful for brands is the designer's commitment to what might be called functional specificity within conceptual unity. Each floor answers different customer needs and creates different emotional experiences, yet all floors remain connected through the material strategy, the home-centered concept, and attention to light, ventilation, and appropriate white space. Retail brands can apply the principle of functional specificity by first identifying the distinct functions their space must serve, then ensuring that each functional zone receives its own distinct expression while remaining anchored to core brand elements and design vocabulary.

The Architecture of Welcome for Families and Children

Spaces that welcome children welcome families, and families represent some of the most valuable customer segments for retail brands. The Study project demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the principle of family welcome through dedicated attention to child-friendly design elements. The stepped platform on the first floor creates what might be described as an amphitheater for young readers, a space where children can settle comfortably at their own scale while parents browse or relax nearby.

The stepped platform represents not token accommodation but genuine architectural commitment to multi-generational welcome. The book wall on the left side of the first floor emphasizes the high ceiling, creating a sense of grandeur and possibility that appeals to adults while the lower stepped areas provide intimacy and accessibility for children. The dual-scale approach represents sophisticated design thinking that understands families as complex units with different members having different needs, all of which must be addressed within the same physical footprint.

For brands seeking to attract family customers, the lesson extends beyond adding a play corner or lowering some shelving. True family-friendly design requires rethinking spatial hierarchy to ensure that children experience welcome and accommodation at the same level of sophistication offered to adult customers. When young visitors feel genuinely considered rather than merely tolerated, their parents notice. Attention to children translates into longer visits, positive word-of-mouth, and the kind of emotional brand association that turns occasional visitors into loyal advocates.

Transparency and Connection Through Glass and Light

The designer notes that transparent glass serves as a key element in establishing visual connection between different spaces within the Study project. Strategic use of transparency creates opportunities for people in different areas to see and engage with one another, generating the kind of ambient social energy that makes commercial spaces feel alive and vibrant. The interplay between enclosed areas and open visual corridors gives customers a sense of being part of something larger while still enjoying their individual experience.

Light and ventilation receive equal attention in the design research for the Study project. The designer describes a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere as the main axis of the relationship between floors, achieved through careful consideration of natural light, air movement, and strategic use of white space. Light, ventilation, and white space work together to create breathing room within what could otherwise feel like crowded commercial architecture. For customers, thoughtful environmental design translates into spaces that feel fresh, welcoming, and conducive to extended stays.

Retail brands often underestimate the impact of invisible design elements like lighting and ventilation. Customers may not consciously notice excellent natural lighting or thoughtful ventilation, but customers absolutely notice the absence of good environmental quality. Spaces with poor light quality or stagnant air create subtle but persistent discomfort that shortens visits and diminishes satisfaction. The Study project demonstrates how attention to foundational elements of light and ventilation supports and enhances all other design choices, creating an environment where customers can truly relax and engage with the space and its offerings.

The Strategic Value of Curved Extensions and Raised Floors

Beyond color and material, the Study project employs architectural forms that support both function and emotional experience. Curved extensions create cabinets and functional elements that contrast with the typically rectangular architecture of commercial buildings. Curved extensions introduce organic quality into the space, softening edges and creating visual interest that rewards exploration. Raised floors throughout the project define zones and create varied spatial experiences without requiring walls or partitions that would fragment the visual continuity.

The curved cabinet and raised floor choices serve commercial objectives while enhancing aesthetic appeal. Curved cabinets maximize storage and display capacity while creating flowing pathways that guide customer movement. Raised floors establish hierarchy and separation while maintaining the open, connected quality that makes the space feel cohesive. For customers, curved cabinets and raised floors create discovery and delight as visitors move through spaces that reveal themselves gradually rather than presenting everything at once.

Brands investing in commercial interior design can learn from the integration of form and function demonstrated in the Study project. Architectural elements should work harder than mere aesthetics, serving practical commercial needs while contributing to the overall emotional experience. When curved extensions solve storage challenges while also creating visual warmth, when raised floors define zones while also creating comfortable seating areas, the design achieves efficiency that justifies investment while creating memorable experiences that distinguish the brand in customer memory. To explore the award-winning study interior design is to see how form-and-function principles come together in a completed, functioning space.

Translating Cultural References into Commercial Experience

The Study project draws explicitly from cultural traditions, incorporating Japanese atmosphere in the mezzanine and classic American style in the second-floor study room. Cultural references function as shorthand for complex sets of associations and expectations. Japanese design traditions evoke mindfulness, simplicity, natural materials, and intentional living. American study room traditions evoke intellectual pursuit, comfortable formality, and the warmth of established institutions like libraries and private clubs.

For retail brands, cultural references offer powerful tools for rapid emotional communication. Customers arriving at a space that clearly references a known tradition immediately understand something about what experience to expect and how to behave within that space. The Japanese-influenced mezzanine suggests quieter conversation, mindful eating, contemplative reading. The American study suggests comfortable lingering, intellectual engagement, perhaps business meetings conducted in civilized surroundings.

The key for brands lies in selecting cultural references that align authentically with brand values and customer expectations. Superficial or inaccurate cultural borrowing creates dissonance that sophisticated customers immediately detect. The Study project succeeds because the project's cultural references serve the larger home-centered concept while adding variety and richness to the overall experience. Each cultural touchpoint reinforces rather than contradicts the fundamental message of warmth, welcome, and comfortable belonging.

Lessons for Retail Brand Experience Strategy

The Study project offers multiple lessons for brands seeking to create commercial spaces that customers love:

• Emotional concepts like home provide organizing principles that guide countless specific design decisions while maintaining coherence across complex multi-use spaces.
• Material strategy creates visual and emotional continuity that helps customers navigate and feel comfortable within unfamiliar environments.
• Distinct functional zones can coexist within unified design vocabulary when the underlying concept is strong enough to accommodate variety.
• Attention to all customer segments, including children and families, signals genuine welcome that translates into loyalty and advocacy.
• Invisible elements like lighting, ventilation, and spatial breathing room support and enhance every other design choice.
• Architectural forms should integrate function and aesthetics, working harder than mere decoration to solve commercial challenges while creating emotional resonance.
• Cultural references accelerate emotional communication when selected thoughtfully and implemented authentically.

The principles from the Study project apply across retail categories and commercial contexts. Whether a brand operates a single location or dozens, whether the space spans one floor or six, the fundamental insights remain relevant. Commercial spaces that feel like home create customer experiences that translate into business results, and the Study project demonstrates how sophisticated interior design can achieve favorable outcomes across remarkably complex architectural challenges.

Looking Forward

The recognition of the Study project with a Silver A' Design Award in Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design acknowledges what the space achieves and what the project teaches. As retail continues evolving in response to changing customer expectations and competitive pressures, the principles demonstrated in the Study project become increasingly valuable. Physical spaces must create experiences that digital channels cannot replicate, and emotional resonance represents one of the most powerful differentiators available to brands operating in the built environment.

The home concept in commercial design invites customers into relationship rather than transaction. When spaces feel warm, coherent, and genuinely welcoming, customers respond with attention, engagement, and loyalty. The Study project by Shih Han Chen for Thinking Design shows how warmth, coherence, and welcome emerge from thoughtful integration of material strategy, spatial planning, cultural reference, and attention to the diverse needs of different customer segments.

What might your brand's spaces feel like if the spaces truly embraced the principles of home? How would customers respond to commercial environments designed with the same care and intentionality that people bring to their most personal spaces? The answers to these questions may well determine which retail brands thrive in the years ahead and which struggle to justify their physical presence in an increasingly digital world.