The Animal Backbone by Eason Zhu, Commemorative Retail Design that Builds Brand Identity

How Meaningful Retail Design in Historic Spaces Helps Brands Build Authentic Identity and Emotional Customer Connections

What happens when a retail space remembers? Not in a passive, dusty museum kind of way, but actively, viscerally, through every material choice and spatial decision. The question of memory in commercial environments sits at the heart of one of the most thought-provoking retail design projects to emerge from Shanghai in recent years. Consider the following scenario: a pet lifestyle brand opens a flagship store inside a building that once served as the first slaughterhouse in the Far East. The irony is immediate. The opportunity for authentic brand storytelling is extraordinary.

The Animal Backbone, designed by Eason Zhu and the Fununit Design team, occupies just 100 square meters within the historic 1933 Shanghai building. Yet the compact retail environment accomplishes something that countless larger stores fail to achieve. The Animal Backbone creates genuine emotional resonance between a brand's values and the physical space where customers encounter those values. The design received a Golden A' Design Award in Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design in 2022, recognition that speaks to the project's innovative approach to meaningful commercial environments.

For brands, enterprises, and companies seeking to differentiate themselves through physical retail experiences, The Animal Backbone offers a masterclass in what becomes possible when design serves as more than decoration. When spatial choices carry narrative weight. When a store's architecture can make customers feel something true about what a brand believes. The lessons here extend far beyond pet products or Shanghai real estate. The principles touch on fundamental questions about how commercial spaces can honor history, communicate values, and forge the kinds of emotional connections that transform casual shoppers into devoted brand advocates.

The Strategic Value of Historic Context in Retail Environments

Most brands approach retail design as a blank canvas problem. Start fresh. Create something new. Control every variable. There is tremendous appeal in the blank canvas approach, and the method produces many successful stores worldwide. Yet an alternative path exists for brands willing to embrace complexity: designing within spaces that carry their own stories, their own emotional weight, their own accumulated meaning.

The 1933 Shanghai building presents precisely the opportunity for meaningful context. Constructed in the early twentieth century as a state-of-the-art slaughterhouse, the remarkable structure has since transformed into one of Shanghai's most distinctive cultural and creative industry centers. Tourists flock to experience the building's unusual architecture. The structure's history, however uncomfortable, remains palpable within its concrete walls.

Eason Zhu and the design team recognized something crucial about the historical context. Rather than attempting to erase or ignore the building's past, the designers chose to engage with the past directly. The Animal Backbone acknowledges those "tens of thousands of animal souls" that once passed through the space. The acknowledgment of animal souls creates an unusual foundation for a pet lifestyle retail environment. The acknowledgment also creates an authentic foundation.

For brands evaluating potential retail locations, The Animal Backbone demonstrates how historic buildings with complex histories can become powerful allies in identity construction. The key lies in finding genuine connections between a brand's values and a location's narrative. A pet brand dedicated to animal welfare operating within a former slaughterhouse creates immediate tension. The tension between past and present, handled thoughtfully through design, transforms into something more valuable: a statement of purpose that customers can physically experience.

The commercial implications extend beyond storytelling. Historic buildings attract foot traffic. Historic buildings provide built-in media interest. Historic buildings offer architectural distinctiveness that would cost fortunes to construct from scratch. When brands align their values with location history, the brands gain all these advantages while simultaneously demonstrating the authenticity that contemporary customers increasingly demand.

Narrative Architecture and the Cat's Walking Path

How do you organize a retail space? The conventional answers involve traffic flow studies, product category mapping, fixture placement optimization, and sightline management. Traffic flow studies and product mapping considerations matter enormously for commercial success. Yet The Animal Backbone introduces an additional organizing principle that elevates functional space planning into something approaching poetry.

The design team began their process by implanting a narrative story into the space before determining the space's character. The designers started from the walking track of a cat. The cat's path concept shapes everything that follows. The cat's hypothetical path through the environment divides interior from exterior space. Basic functions emerge along the circular journey, organized as a cat might organize them: places for observing, places for resting, places for exploration.

Within the cat's path framework, familiar domestic spaces appear in unexpected retail form. Living rooms, restaurants, kitchens, bathrooms form what the designers call "scene elements of life" and create a "bubble map" of interconnected zones. Doors and windows provide "the ability to peep and observe the inside and outside," mimicking the curiosity-driven behavior of cats themselves.

The cat's path approach serves multiple strategic purposes simultaneously. For the commissioning brand, which focuses on pet lifestyle products, the cat's perspective reinforces core identity in ways that signage and branding materials cannot match. Customers experience the space as a cat might, unconsciously adopting an animal's point of view. The experiential alignment between spatial design and product category creates memorability and emotional resonance.

For enterprises considering narrative-driven retail design, the lesson here involves selecting organizing principles that connect authentically to brand purpose. A technology company might organize space around the concept of connectivity. A wellness brand might use breathing rhythms or natural cycles. The specific metaphor matters less than the metaphor's genuine relationship to what the brand represents. When spatial organization emerges from brand values rather than generic retail templates, customers sense the difference even if customers cannot articulate exactly why a space feels distinctive.

Commemorative Design as Commercial Strategy

The phrase "commemorative architecture" typically conjures images of monuments, memorials, and museums. Memorial spaces exist outside commercial pressures. Memorial spaces enjoy public funding or philanthropic support. Memorial spaces serve collective memory rather than quarterly targets. The Animal Backbone challenges the separation between commemoration and commerce, suggesting that retail environments can perform memorial functions while remaining viable businesses.

The design team describes their intention as creating "a way to have a commemorative architecture" that would "make an icy building to echo the concrete, and to arouse the painful memories and facts of killing animals because of lust." The description is remarkably direct language for a retail project. Most commercial design briefs emphasize welcoming atmospheres and pleasant customer experiences. The Animal Backbone's brief deliberately incorporates discomfort.

Yet discomfort, handled thoughtfully, creates depth. The space does not celebrate the building's past as a slaughterhouse. The Animal Backbone acknowledges the past while pointing toward different possibilities. The name itself, The Animal Backbone, carries weight. The name suggests the structural element that supports animal bodies. The name implies the brand's commitment to animal welfare forms the backbone of the brand's identity. The name references what remains after an animal is gone.

For brands navigating complex historical or ethical terrain, The Animal Backbone demonstrates how spatial design can communicate values more effectively than marketing campaigns. A company can claim commitment to sustainability in advertisements. The claim gains credibility when visitors to the company's retail environment witness thoughtful engagement with difficult histories. The Animal Backbone makes the commissioning brand's dedication to animal welfare tangible, visible, experienceable.

The commercial case for commemorative elements in retail design rests on differentiation and trust. Contemporary consumers, particularly younger demographics, increasingly evaluate brands based on values alignment. Physical retail environments that demonstrate genuine ethical engagement create competitive advantages that purely transactional spaces cannot match.

Material Language and Emotional Communication

Metal plate, mirror, and glass. The three materials constitute the primary palette for The Animal Backbone. Each choice serves specific communicative purposes beyond aesthetic preference. Together, the materials create what the designers describe as an "icy building" that echoes the original concrete structure while adding layers of meaning.

Metal plate connects directly to the industrial history of the 1933 building. Slaughterhouses of that era relied heavily on metal surfaces for hygiene and durability. By incorporating metal into a retail environment dedicated to animal welfare, the design creates a deliberate tension. The same material that facilitated animal processing now supports a brand promoting animal adoption and care. The material continuity, carrying transformed purpose, communicates redemption without words.

Mirror surfaces introduce reflection in both literal and metaphorical senses. Customers see themselves within the space. Customers become part of the commemorative environment. The boundaries between observer and observed blur. The material choice aligns perfectly with the design concept of "the ability to peep and observe the inside and outside." Mirrors also multiply the perceived space within the compact 100 square meter footprint, a practical benefit that serves commercial needs while advancing conceptual goals.

Glass provides transparency and light while maintaining barriers. Glass allows the "inside and outside" relationship that features prominently in the design narrative. Glass permits observation while controlling access. For a retail environment, glass supports visual merchandising needs. For the broader commemorative concept, glass suggests the possibility of seeing clearly, of witnessing what might otherwise remain hidden.

Enterprises developing retail environments can learn from careful material selection processes. Materials communicate before customers read signage or encounter products. Materials create emotional atmospheres. Materials reference histories and suggest futures. When material choices emerge from thoughtful consideration of brand values and spatial context, the materials perform communication work that supplements and strengthens all other branding efforts.

Brand Alignment Through Spatial Experience

The commissioning entity behind The Animal Backbone proposed a concept of stray animal adoption and committed to "providing long-term supply of food for the stray cats and dogs in the 1933 old field." The social responsibility initiative exists independently of the retail design. Yet the design dramatically amplifies the initiative's impact by creating physical space that embodies animal welfare values.

Consider the customer journey. A visitor arrives at the 1933 building, attracted perhaps by the building's cultural significance or unusual architecture. The visitor encounters The Animal Backbone and experiences a retail environment organized around a cat's perspective, built with materials that evoke difficult history, named in memorial tribute. The visitor learns about stray animal adoption programs. The visitor discovers that purchasing products supports ongoing food supplies for homeless animals in the surrounding area.

Every element reinforces every other element. The historical context of the former slaughterhouse gives weight to animal welfare commitments. The cat's path organization emphasizes species-specific understanding. The commemorative architectural approach demonstrates genuine rather than superficial engagement with animal welfare concerns. The adoption and feeding programs translate spatial values into tangible action.

For brands seeking to communicate social responsibility authentically, the integrated approach offers a template. Disconnected initiatives, where marketing messages claim values that physical spaces contradict, erode trust. Integrated approaches, where spatial design embodies stated values, build credibility. The Animal Backbone succeeds because visitors experience the brand's commitment rather than merely reading about the commitment.

To explore the animal backbone's award-winning retail design is to understand how spatial environments can communicate brand values more powerfully than any advertising campaign. The recognition from the Golden A' Design Award acknowledges the project's achievement while providing the commissioning brand with third-party validation of design excellence.

The Symbiotic Space Concept and Future Implications

The design team introduces a compelling phrase: "symbiotic space." The designers describe the meaning of The Animal Backbone as "bearing the burden of history with the animal, pursuing humans and animals how to better live in harmony in the historical environment and share the wonderful experience brought by this city." The symbiotic space framework transforms retail design into something approaching urban intervention.

The symbiotic space concept suggests that commercial environments can model relationships rather than merely facilitate transactions. Humans and animals share the city. Humans and animals share histories, including difficult ones. Retail spaces dedicated to pet products occupy a unique position within shared urban existence. Pet-focused retail spaces can acknowledge complexity. Pet-focused retail spaces can propose better futures. Pet-focused retail spaces can make abstract values tangible.

For enterprises operating in contested or complex sectors, the symbiotic space framework offers possibilities. Food companies might create spaces that acknowledge agricultural histories while proposing sustainable futures. Fashion brands might design retail environments that engage with textile industry challenges while demonstrating commitment to ethical production. Technology companies might build stores that recognize digital disruption's human costs while showcasing beneficial applications.

The business case for symbiotic space design involves long-term brand building rather than short-term sales optimization. Customers who experience meaningful retail environments develop deeper brand relationships. Engaged customers become advocates. Engaged customers return. Engaged customers forgive occasional product disappointments because engaged customers trust the organization behind the products. Trust built through authentic spatial experience creates competitive advantages that price competition cannot erode.

Lessons for Brand Identity Construction Through Retail Design

The Animal Backbone demonstrates several principles that enterprises can apply across industries and contexts:

• Historical location context represents an underutilized asset. Many brands chase new construction when existing buildings with complex histories offer richer storytelling opportunities and built-in distinctiveness.
• Narrative-driven spatial organization creates memorable environments that reinforce brand identity. Moving beyond generic retail templates toward organizing principles that emerge from brand values produces spaces that customers sense as authentic even without conscious analysis.
• Commemorative elements in commercial spaces build trust by demonstrating genuine engagement with difficult topics. Brands that acknowledge complexity rather than presenting simplified images earn credibility with increasingly sophisticated consumers.
• Material choices perform communication work that supplements verbal and visual branding. Thoughtful material selection creates emotional atmospheres aligned with brand values.
• Integrated approaches where spatial design embodies social responsibility initiatives amplify impact beyond what disconnected efforts achieve. Customers experience values rather than merely reading claims.

The principles listed above apply whether a brand operates in pet products, consumer electronics, hospitality, fashion, or any sector where physical retail environments remain relevant. The specific implementations will differ. The underlying logic of meaningful design serving authentic brand identity construction remains consistent.

The recognition that The Animal Backbone received through the Golden A' Design Award in Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design validates the principles described above while providing a reference point for enterprises developing their own approaches. Studying awarded projects offers insight into what design excellence looks like in practice.

Moving Forward with Meaningful Retail Environments

The Animal Backbone occupies just 100 square meters. The project's impact extends far beyond the physical footprint. The Animal Backbone demonstrates that retail design can honor history, communicate values, create emotional connections, and serve commercial purposes simultaneously. The goals of commemoration and commerce need not conflict. Properly integrated, the goals reinforce each other.

For brands evaluating retail design investments, the question shifts from "how do we create an attractive store?" toward "how do we create a space that embodies who we are?" The reframing opens possibilities that conventional approaches miss. The reframing positions retail environments as brand assets rather than real estate expenses. The reframing creates differentiation that competitors cannot easily replicate.

Eason Zhu and the Fununit Design team have shown what becomes possible when designers engage fully with context, history, and brand purpose. The result transforms a compact retail space within a former slaughterhouse into a commemorative environment that advances animal welfare values while serving legitimate commercial needs.

What aspects of your brand's identity could physical retail environments embody more fully, and what historical contexts might provide unexpected opportunities for authentic storytelling?