Design Elevation

Leveraging Minor Changes for Major Impact on Project Success

Redefining a Regional Mall's Retail Strategy

The Vision

The Client is in the process of developing a community center in a densely populated area. The largest component in the project is the supermarket, for which a contract has been agreed upon. In order to successfully attract the right tenants, the client is looking to supplement the supermarket offering with other functions that provide convenience to the community. Following a market assessment, I summarized the core activities of a community center and how they can empower the surrounding neighborhoods.However, the terms of the contract with the supermarket imposes several restrictions and constraints on the main floor space, and the designers have reached an impasse in resolving the issues related to the Retail units.

Small Changes with a big impact

The Challenges

The highlighted supermarket façade is used for advertising, mandated by the contractual agreement with the operator. This means that no additional units can be added to that frontage, which resulted in a lot of wasted space which the designer occupied with large kiosks.
As a result, the retail units have a shallow depth and smaller size than ideal.
The elevator block is obstructing the visibility of the retail.
The proposed kiosk layout includes large kiosks with an irregular design, which does not reflect the preference of most retailers.

The Approach

Moving the circulation one block to the right can be done without affecting the column layout; this allows the retail frontage to be moved further into the mall space, which will expand the depth of retail units.
This will also allow for a more favorable proportion of the standard retail unit, with a smaller façade-to-depth ratio
Additionally, shifting the elevator to the amenities area will free up the central spaces and improve frontage visibility.
The two primary limitations remained unaltered: the structural grid remained unchanged, and the supermarket's façade, as specified in the contract, remained unobstructed.
The continuous loop circulation around the void was achieved, and the visibility and accessibility of the elevator block were preserved.

It is crucial to understand the preferences of customers and the standard configurations to provide these suggestions effectively. Regularly engaging in a design assessment procedure was one of the responsibilities I consistently fulfilled at different project stages, ranging from initial planning to intricate design phases. The "before" and "after" transformation can be seen below:

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