Retail Design

The retail world is facing a revolutionary challenge in the century. Digital communication and the internet are replacing traditional distribution channels and becoming increasingly attractive to a young, affluent clientele - the globally minded customers of tomorrow who will source worldwide for their favourite brands. Consequently, retail marketing has to be redefined, and the design of retail and display spaces assumes a high priority. Rather than merely forming an integral part of corporate identity strategies, the spaces in which and products are brought together need to develop an excitement of their own to provide a shopping experience that cannot be equalled by e-commerce. Leading architects and interior designers are faced with the task of re-evaluating traditional solutions for retail environments to provide for shopping's new dimension of entertainment - creating spaces which range from the strictly purist to those that permit hybrid combinations of functions or offer themed phantasmagorias. Retail Design gives a comprehensive international overview of outstanding retail projects, including showrooms, boutiques, outlets, markets, mega-malls and department stores. Forty-four schemes by architects and designers such as Ron Arad, Ben Kelly, David Chipperfield, Oswald Matthias Ungers, Massimiliano Fuksas and Eric Kuhne and Associates are presented. With a comprehensive reference section and richly illustrated with colour photographs and drawings, Retail Design is an invaluable source for architects and designers working or interested in the new retail environment.