Contract Magazine - September 2017 - 18

PHOTOGRAPHY: MACKENZIE STROH

EDITORIAL

Retrofitting for a Changing World of Retail
Contract is focused on retail interiors in this issue, with features on
stores for Dolce & Gabbana (page 48), the British brand Harvey Nichols
(page 54), and the California-based skin-care company Rajeunir
(page 60). As the retail landscape evolves, it is high-end retailers such
as these that are still doing quite well-those that are focused on the
customer experience. But the rest of the brick-and-mortar retail world
is changing as customers shop more online, the perceptions of a new
generation of consumers evolve, and real estate demands ebb and flow.
This issue includes an interview with David Schwarz, a founder
of the interactive experience design company HUSH (page 78). Schwarz
succinctly defines what works in retail today: "Economic forces mandate
change, and commodity retail will move toward e-commerce. Hightouch luxury goods will maintain brick-and-mortar locations, though,
and so will experiential brands-companies that provide a place
to gather, connect, and experience the value of being with like minds."
At our forthcoming Contract Design Forum, October 18-20
in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I am pleased that we will have an outstanding
speaker to help the audience gain further insight into the big-picture
evolution of retail as we know it: Ellen Dunham-Jones.
Before becoming editor in chief of Contract, I was a senior
acquisitions editor of architecture and design books at the publisher
John Wiley & Sons. In that role, while at a Congress for the New
Urbanism many years ago, I saw Dunham-Jones speak on the topic
of redesigning suburbs, particularly dead malls, for new mixed uses.
I approached her after her talk then to ask if she would be interested
in writing a book on the topic, and that resulted in "Retrofitting
Suburbia: Urban Design Solutions for Redesigning Suburbs," coauthored
by Dunham-Jones and June Williamson. The book, which published
in January 2009 and was updated in 2011, highlights a number
of real-world examples of suburban retail that had been redeveloped
and reconsidered, with a mix of uses that includes new retail with
residential and office space. Initially written before the Great Recession
of 2008-09, the book was prescient.
Approximately 300 former malls in the U.S. either have
or are becoming mixed-use developments, and about 50 of these
conversions include housing. More than 200 malls have closed in this
country in just the past three years, leaving around 1,100 enclosed
malls remaining. Retail industry research estimates that about 300
of those 1,100 malls are expected to close over the next decade.
Now is the time for designers-whether they are architects,
interior designers, or urban designers-to take a step back and
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re-evaluate how these spaces can and should be used. Besides
changes in retail and development, retrofitting the shopping mall is about
resilient urban design, with walkability and human health in mind.
Register to attend Contract Design Forum
Contract welcomes practicing architects and interior designers
who are engaged in any commercial design project type to attend
and participate in the Contract Design Forum. Attendees pay a
registration fee and their own travel expenses, including accommodations
at La Fonda on the Plaza. Confirmed speakers are Dunham-Jones,
as well as Andrew Gordon, an animation director at Pixar, and
Jason Schupbach, the former director of design at the National
Endowment for the Arts who is now the director of the design school
at Arizona State University. Attendees will visit the Museum of
International Folk Art and SITE Santa Fe, among other locales. Visit
contractdesignforum.com to learn more and begin the registration
process. If interested, please register within the month of September.
Enter the Interiors Awards
When you receive this issue, you'll have only days to enter your
recent projects in the 39th annual Interiors Awards, presented
by Contract. The final extended deadline is September 22 for
the Interiors Awards, which honor exemplary commercial interiors
worldwide. Entries are accepted in 15 professional categories,
including a new category for office lobby repositioning. An all-star
jury of design professionals will select the winning projects, which
will be honored in January at the Interiors Awards Breakfast
in New York. Visit contractdesign.com/interiorsawards to learn
more and to enter today!
Sincerely,
John Czarnecki, Assoc. AIA, Hon. IIDA
Editor in Chief
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John Czarnecki's editorials

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Contract Magazine - September 2017

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