Speaker: David Kim, AIA
Moderator: Ed Shriver Jr., FAIA
Recorded 3/15/2013 - 5:14 minutes
TH306 "Retail Design around the World: Challenges and Guidelines for American Architects" will be presented June 20th at the 2013 AIA National Convention in Denver, Colorado. As the retail design marketplace for American architects has expanded beyond U.S. borders, an increasing number of U.S. architects are trying to navigate the sometimes rough waters of working overseas. The U.S. shopping center industry was the model for development success in the 1980s and early 1990s, and developers in Latin America, Asia, Australia, Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East began to seek design services from U.S. retail architecture firms. The exporting of U.S. retail design expertise led to a global wave of shopping center development over the past 25 years. In recent years, economic pressures in the United States forced more U.S. firms to look abroad for retail design opportunities. The challenges include designing for sometimes strange and fascinating cultures, understanding seemingly random and byzantine code requirements, sourcing local materials, and collaborating with foreign architects. The rewards include a broader understanding of the universal truths in retail design, exciting growth opportunities for young staff and senior leadership, and significant profitability in the face of economic downturn here at home.
This course will offer dialogue among leading retail design architects who will identify and discuss key success factors in the design of retail environments outside the United States. Panelists will each present lessons learned and key issues by region, through their own project experiences. The discussion will shine a light on differences between Asian and Latin American business environments as well as on sustainability issues and how they differ between the United States and the Middle East. In markets where department stores are smaller or nonexistent, what can be used as a "anchor" in a retail diagram, and how can leasing practices result in subtle differences in design solutions in different cultures? The dialogue will focus on the balance of offering successful U.S. models while working to understand how to modify those models to fit other cultures—listening, absorbing, and being open to the fact that the American way may not always be the best way. The presentation will also discuss how urban density in Asian cities changes the retail design paradigm and opens up opportunities that would never work in less-dense cities in the United States, Latin America, or the Middle East.
From a practice perspective, panelists will discuss typical scope definitions and the importance of collaborations with local architects to document and deliver design. Working with clients in different time zones; working with U.S. and local project-based teams to create 24-hour productivity; construction and craftsmanship issues in various markets; and common and accepted construction methodologies that would never be allowed in the United States will all be addressed by a panel assembled to highlight each person's unique experience and perspective with retail projects and clients in the international marketplace.
David E Kim, AIA is a Senior Architect for Sutti Associates based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sutti Associates is a multi-discipline design firm with architecture, construction, equipment and consulting services, all with the philosophy that designing, building and merchandising retail spaces is similar to creating a work of art. As Senior Architect, Mr. Kim leads the architectural team, coordinating the construction of retail spaces but also collaborating with the equipment division for layouts and specifications to meet the needs of the retail clients.
Ed Shriver Jr., FAIA is a founding member and principal of Strada, and architectural, urban design, interiors and landscape design firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa. Founded in 2000 by four established and diverse architects, Strada has become the trusted design advisor to cities, towns, colleges, universities, corporations and developers of mixed-use projects and public spaces. Mr. Shriver’s work has focused on the development and execution of corporate and development strategies through architectural and urban design. He is the founder and past Chair of AIA’s National Retail and Entertainment Knowledge Community, a professional practice area within AIA dedicated to fostering the creation, discussion, and dissemination of knowledge about the retail and entertainment environments. He is also past Private Member Alliance Co-Chair for the Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware Chapter of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
#International #shiver #retail #podcast #rec #kim #sustainability #RetailandEntertainmentCommittee