The new Animation City Retail Centre in Guangzhou is a brilliant example of creative analysis of the market to create a unique product. The brief was to design a new retail Centre of 25,000sqm in 3 basement levels with entries at each level from the Front Park Metro Station.

The animation theme emerged as a set of new marketing concepts which the designers then transformed into a lively, vibrant and dynamic aesthetic.

The design developed by Woodhead creates a totally new shopping experience aimed at expressing the innovators' world of comics and digital animation. This will be the first truly specialised animation retail centre in China and one of the first in the world to create a theme below ground centre, generating a youth culture and offering opportunities to live out their fantasies.

The design offers attractive and exciting entries on 3 levels, from the Guangzhou subway to the plaza entry above. Each entry point has an attractive theme and coloured lighting. The use of irregular shapes and random patterns in the retail area stimulate the visual senses and highlight the innovative atmosphere, attracting tenants and shoppers alike. The public areas on each level offer attractions such as digital cinema pods, themed food outlets, Cosplay theatre and exhibition areas where enthusiasts display and exchange collection items. The public plaza above the shopping centre will focus on showcasing activities such as skateboarding championships.

The design layout encourages shoppers to congregate at the central core of the centre where the comic and animation culture is most prolific. The centre development will be the focus for the rapidly growing digital industry and will boost Chinas world leadership in this field.