When you ask an architect to envision the Store of the Future, their mind races with the opportunities of the clean sheet of paper, unlimited budgets and unlimited resources! The reality of the store of the future is altogether different.

The Great Recession has left us with smaller budgets, dwindling resources and consumers who shop less. And according to the 2007 Economic Census, there were 1,122,703 retail establishments in the United States and a total of 14.2 billion square feet of retail spaces. With such an abundance of existing shopping space, the question to solve is: How will the existing retail environment of today be transformed into the Store of the Future, enticing the shopper and energizing the store personnel to provide a greater return on investment for the retailer?

Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers an exciting platform for renovating retail space, when it is appropriately used by design, construction and executive teams. Building models are constructed from digital representations of parts and components used in construction, complete with quantities and physical properties of the materials used.

These information-rich models allow simulation of things like heating or cooling loads, or physical weight loads. They allow an owner to tap into a robust database of information for use in identifying maintenance needs or merchandising opportunities over the life cycle of a building. In the future, BIM will drive a shift in construction towards premanufacturing or panelization of building components, reducing construction time and waste to provide tighter and more accurate bids.

Having read the article about the half-mile-long beaver dam in Alberta, Canada, it occurred to me that those beavers exemplify something frequently overlooked in the retail design business, the idea that it’s okay to fail.

You would have to imagine that over the reported 2800 linear feet of dam in what is basically a flat terrain, there’s the likelihood that sometimes it just doesn’t work the way they intended. The colony has to react quickly to failure to ensure the safety of their habitat. If any of you beavers are reading this post and would like to broaden your portfolio, by all means, give us a call. Failure is an option in design as long as it’s smart failure and failing for the right reason. If it helps the idea move forward, then it might just net out the absolute best result.

In today’s market, retail brands developing a new design concept rarely have the luxury of time. Business pressure demands short design-and-build timeframes, followed by testing and refining.

Ok, I have spent the last five years convinced that the marketing hype was just that—hype. Mostly from reading countless advertisements for LED lighting products that play on unsuspecting readers with questionable claims, such as Long life! Excellent color! High efficiency! Brighter!

Well, what were previously exaggerated claims are now coming to be real. LED lighting products are here to stay. And the bubbling pot is about to explode. After years of refinements, and new industry regulation, the products are consistently better performers than the previous generation.

The US Department of Energy has developed a labeling program (I think it is voluntary) that provides a means of consistency for describing LED performance. It addresses Light Output, Watts, Efficacy, Color Rendering Index and Correlated Color Temperature. Or Brightness, Energy, Efficiency, Color Accuracy and Light Color.

For years, the majority of cash at quick service restaurants has gone “through the window.” The growing car culture has dictated a focus on drive-thru efficiency to the point where the dining room has become an afterthought to operators and subsequently a barrier to customers.

The cost of updating and maintaining a dining room has seemed cost prohibitive to many QSR chains and their franchisees, especially in light of the high drive-thru ratio. But by not offering a unique, pleasant dining experience, they have let the brand image wither on the vine. And it’s now coming back to haunt them. I contend that the high drive-thru ratio is in large part due to customers avoiding the “ick” factor of enduring outdated, smelly, deteriorating environments with no sense of place or brand personality. The dining room is the brand.

So I’m sitting in a Starbucks in Sacramento CA waiting to meet with the city planner regarding a new building design and notice the building across the street has an HVAC unit mounted at the peak of a bowstring truss roof. You’ve got to be kidding me! As they say on “Modern Family,” What the face! Where is the enforcement?

You would think they were trying to make a mechanical engineering cupola statement as part of the design concept or something. Wow, who does that and what city planner or inspector approved that?

As design professionals, we go through great pains to design buildings that screen ugly mechanical equipment to improve the look of the street scape at every juncture.

Interbrand Design Forum redesigns all 400,000 square feet of the space to create a state-of-the art destination store