Running adjacent to the World Architecture Festival in Berlin, Germany, the INSIDE World Festival of Interiors 2016 explored the theme, ‘Fluid Interiors’, in consideration of how cross-disciplinary design has changed the way we live, work and play – addressed during the festival by various globally-renowned interior design leaders.

During the interior awards ceremony, nine category winners, including one World Interior of the Year 2016, were announced, celebrating some of the world’s best interiors completed over the last 12 months.

A Chinese fashion concept store was declared the World Interior of the Year. Titled Black Cant System, the design was conceived by Shanwei Weng and Jiadie Yuan of Hangzhou-based An Design Studio for fashion brand Heike.

Located in the suburbs of Shanghai, China, the store sits on the second storey of a furniture store, hidden from the spotlight. With a bold, all-grey interiors that combine mesh-clad windows, backlit glass panelling, brutalist black steel, dark timber and touches of silver, the futuristic project was applauded for challenging the traditional notions of a retail store. Besides housing retail elements such as a fitting room, storage, and display, a small bar was injected into the space to create a socialising area.

“Faced with a divided space, the designers inserted a black canted cube over the existing central stair, and effectively absorbed the programmatic elements into a poetic and sculptural whole. The store brand and architectural image work in harmony, with a sensitivity to surface and details,” the jury said.