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Kengo Kuma Associates has shared the announcement of a new mixed-use project in the Miami Design District. The MIRAI Design District is a $1 billion development to be realized at 65,000 square feet with 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and another 40,000 square feet of high-end... View full entry
The latest Apple Store retail concept from Foster + Partners has been completed in Shanghai. The firm’s newest design for the company is located in Jing’an Park and forms the centerpiece of an urban regeneration that creates a permeable new connection between its site and the adjacent historic... View full entry
UNStudio has completed a flagship store for the Chinese communications giant Huawei in Shanghai. Designed in collaboration with Huawei’s internal design team, the store seeks to create an “experience-rich concept that brings people, nature, and technology together and caters to consumer... View full entry
The latest satellite development of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project, a new mountainside resort destination called Aquellum, has been launched, along with other initiatives meant to promote sport, leisure, and tourism in the Gulf of Aqaba region. The coastal development, which appears to feature... View full entry
Heatherwick Studio has announced their design for a new shopping center in Xi’an, China, they say will evoke the heritage of ceramics and other artistic creations endemic to the area with a completion date set for 2024. Offering users a “sensory experience to challenge the emotional and... View full entry
“It’s less about e-commerce than it is about how people want to live and what they want to experience [...] People want to connect, they want to be social, so we’re trying to give them more reasons and more opportunities to do that.” — The Globe and Mail
The movement is not without its detractors, however, as planning experts like the University of British Columbia’s Dr. Penelope Gurstein balance the media’s mostly effusive coverage for such projects with criticism that they are marketed towards affluent retirees and wealthy overseas... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Shopping Spaces. Tip: use the handy FOLLOW... View full entry
Malls represent heavy investments in infrastructure, construction materials and place making that should not be discarded. The popularity of dead malls as sites for Covid testing and eventually vaccinations underlines these essential qualities: Easy road access, unencumbered indoor space, instant name recognition. Contemplating the mall’s roots in the garden is an opportunity not for picturesque nostalgia but for new solutions. — The New York Times
The author of the forthcoming title Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall, out next week from Bloomsbury, Lange crafts a nice rundown of dead mall spaces’ possible reuses as public gardens, apartment complexes, and even health care centers in a country where... View full entry
Foster + Partners has unveiled designs for a nine-story, timber-structure department store in Tokyo, presenting an elegant retail space that features several green-building practices. Called the Shibuya Marui Department Store, the space is set to become a new showcase for sustainable lifestyle... View full entry
Austria-based architecture office querkraft has completed an IKEA furniture store in the country’s capital Vienna, whose exterior was inspired by bookcases. Designed as a car-free venue, the scheme was developed with the vision of being a “good neighbor” for the surrounding community through... View full entry
The hulking Hickory Hollow Mall — a full 1.1 million square feet of retail space in southeast Nashville — was once the largest shopping center in Tennessee. But like dozens of malls, it’s been in a downward death spiral for more than a decade — despite a scrappy revival effort. Now, the mammoth complex surrounded by acres of parking is on track to join the ranks of malls making a transition into medicine. — Marketplace.org
According to a national database kept by Georgia Tech urban design professor Ellen Dunham-Jones, a total of 32 enclosed malls have shifted to housing health care services, with nearly a third established at the start of the pandemic. Covid lockdowns had a tremendous impact on brick-and-mortar... View full entry
Retail design has gone through plenty of changes over the years. From exciting storefronts to immersive experiential designs, architects and designers have helped reshape design possibilities for retail. But, beyond the looming fear of the retail apocalypse, the pandemic has added... View full entry
The important first section of OMA’s redesigned master plan for the famed Berlin department store Kaufhaus des Westens (or KaDeWe) has officially opened to the public this week after a five-year renovation effort. Organized into quadrants, the reorganized mass introduces a smaller area plan with... View full entry
In the retail and commercial sectors, the architect’s brief is often driven by a need to offer flexible layouts to suit a variety of potential tenants. This emphasis on flexibility is for good reason, allowing a single unit to accommodate a wide portfolio of businesses without the need for... View full entry
Even before the pandemic, brands like Nike were pushing for innovative ways to engage with customers and reinvigorate their retail stores. With destinations like the Nike Shanghai House of Innovation and Nike Soho storefront, fans of the beloved brand went for the shoes and stayed for the... View full entry