terracotta goes parametric
In Beijing’s Sanlitun district, Hermès’ new flagship appears behind a rose-pink and terracotta screen, its glass volume softened by a porous ceramic layer that catches the daylight from the street. The five-story building was designed by RDAI, with Mamou-Mani collaborating on the facade, bringing computational design and ceramic craft into a single architectural skin.
The project’s strongest gesture sits on the outside. Across the building, ceramic tiles form a semi-transparent veil that gives depth to the facade while allowing light to pass through. The surface reads differently depending on distance: a warm, continuous volume from afar, then a patterned mesh of repeated parts as the viewer moves closer.
images courtesy RDAI
Mamou-Mani crafts an hermès facade
The facade is built from modular ceramic components arranged in a rhythmic system. The team at Mamou-Mani developed the layer with removable panels, giving the surface a practical logic beyond its ornamental role. Curved elements were produced through 3D-printed positives used to make moulds, bringing digital fabrication into a material language more often associated with handcraft.
Parametric design gives the facade its shifting pattern. The ceramic field opens through a series of arches, with the tiles pushed, pulled, and spaced to create moments of transparency across the building. Diamond and rhombic ceramic nosing add texture at the edges, so the surface never sits flat against the glass. It has thickness, shadow, and a slight irregularity that keeps the building from feeling sealed off from the street.
RDAI designed the building, with Mamou-Mani Architects collaborating on the facade
forbidden city references through material and form
The architects at RDAI draw from Beijing’s architectural memory without turning the facade into a direct historical quotation. The curved glazed rooflines refer to the nearby Forbidden City through color, profile, and material finish, while the building remains contemporary in its assembly. The rose-pink and terracotta tones carry that reference softly, picking up on ceramic roofs and sun-warmed masonry rather than copying their form outright.
The roof edge becomes part of the same architectural language. Its curved surface gives the flagship a more fluid silhouette, easing the transition between the glass volume and the ceramic veil below. The effect is architectural rather than decorative, with the facade, roofline, and filtered interior light working as one system.
the ceramic skin gives depth to the glass volume behind it
a tactile surface for digital craft
What makes the project worth looking at is the way it uses digital tools to produce something tactile. The facade depends on parametric modeling and 3D printing, but its final expression comes through ceramic weight, glaze, shadow, and repetition. It avoids the coldness that often comes with computational facades because the material has its own depth and slight softness.
For Mamou-Mani, the project extends a practice built around fabrication into a highly controlled architectural context. For Hermès, it turns a flagship into a building with a stronger public face. In Sanlitun, the ceramic wrapper becomes the main idea: a layered skin that filters the glass behind it, connects to Beijing’s built memory, and gives the store a warmer architectural presence.
removable ceramic panels allow the facade system to be maintained over time
curved elements were developed through 3D-printed positives used to make moulds