Beyond the Design Brief

Transforming Ideas into Tangible Concepts for Exceptional Retail Experiences

Exploring the Retail “Proof of Concept”

Growth-driven Design

Developing the Schematic into a proposed Massing

A Strategy for the Public Realm

A Global Retail Strategy

A hierarchy of circulation spaces

Retail typologies and Design Guidelines

Exploring the Retail “Proof of Concept”

The Vision

The Client owns a land located in a low-density area of a busy city, and is interested in conducting a market assessment and a Highest and best use study for a potential development. They aim to capitalize on the potential of their property within reasonable budgetary constraints, but otherwise have no requirements when it comes to functions and activities.

The Challenges

The main challenge faced by the project is the remote location of the land in relation to the city center. Additionally, the land is situated in a developing area with a smaller population density; this poses difficulties in terms of accessibility and attracting footfall.Another challenge arises from the terrain, which features a 10-meter level difference. This necessitates the provision of suitable parking facilities, with a preference for ground-level parking due to the high costs associated with underground parking.

The Approach

I proposed two solutions to address the challenges mentioned:
- - The first solution involves creating a community center that is phased and designed to respond to evolving market needs. This approach takes into consideration the remote location and smaller population density by focusing on the immediate neighborhoods and their day-to-day requirements.
  - The second solution involves creating a destination project that leverages the advantages of being in a remote location. In this scenario, the land's distance from city centers becomes an opportunity rather than a challenge. One potential concept is to establish an outlet village, which offers discounted retail options and focuses on attracting shoppers who are looking for deals and unique offerings, and avoids direct competition with existing full-price retail locations in city centers.
Both solutions require careful planning, market research, and understanding of the target audience to ensure their viability and success.

Growth-driven Design

As part of a proposal for growth-driven design, I suggested a development plan with three phases, which would have a pre-planned pedestrian axis that connects them. In terms of parking layouts, I collaborated with the project’s city planning consultant and drafter a solution with minimal cut and fill of the land, and integrated ground-level parking that makes use of the level differences, as seen in the schematic section below.

Developing the Schematic into a proposed Massing

I established the design strategy on the following points:

Three vehicular drop-off points and three main pedestrian access gateways
A highly walkable and accessible project that encourages discovery
A central shopfront axis
A potentially phased scheme
A hierarchy of plazas, with corresponding character areas

A Strategy for the Public Realm

A Global Retail Strategy

A hierarchy of circulation spaces

Examining the shopping experience, one might initially view it as a straightforward alignment of shops along a straight path. However, the flow and arrangement of spaces play a critical role in determining the success of the project. An ideal circulation should create a series of captivating and lively areas, guiding visitors on a delightful journey of exploration and revelation. Visitors should feel at ease, being able to navigate effortlessly, yet also experience pleasant surprises. In this context, I delved into various circulation strategies that can be applied within the plan and provided corresponding visual representations.

Single Grid CirculationA basic In-line retail passageway that re-connects to a racetrack loop, with a limited visual field. Having a continuous frontage enhances the sense of exploration and curiosity, and encourages the visitor to walk further along the alignment.

Department store walk-throughSimilar to the single grid circulation, this configuration features an open space with no demising obstructions, which creates a larger visual field.The space can be allocated to a two-sided department store, or to a multi-brand concept, and include appealing displays.

Double-Grid CirculationA more spacious passageway allows for two lines of circulation, as well as having pop-up concepts and extended terraces for F&B concepts.

PiazzaAn internal Piazza or square is surrounded by Retail or F&B on all sides, typically featuring an overhead void, skylight or covering. The visual experience progresses from a small to a larger field of view, allowing the visitor to take in the entirety of the piazza space. This is favorable for F&B

VoidThe void layout allows for an unobstructed view of all retail frontages across all floors and creates a circulation around it. Larger voids typically offer a vantage point over the piazzas below, which helps to draw visitors to the various floors.

Retail typologies and Design Guidelines

I would regularly prepare design guideline documents as a way to support designers in their creative process, by providing them with the technical information required to produce viable architecture.