Models of Retail Design

A retail property needs to be designed as per its function location and objective.  Architect Charanjit Shah, Founding Principal, Creative Group gives examples. Meaningful Design A shopping Mall requires a critical approach towards positioning, zoning and compelling design. Times Square Mall at Naya Raipur breaks away from the conventional glass building mall with no play of forms. Here, it accommodates an abstract use of Jaali work as an elevation feature and a dynamic built form where the building facade changes at every viewing angle. The building is like a curve rising from the ground signifying the aspirations of the new city of Naya Raipur. Airport Retail The challenge in designing the retail spaces at T3 Terminal at Delhi Airport was to intertwine the segregated commercial zones together to make the passenger’s shopping experience fluid. The design intent focused on a thematic connect between all the retail spaces of the terminal while, giving a standalone identity to each activity hub. As the passenger enters the terminal, he is welcomed with various shops connected through a bulkhead and he moves forward, gazing at one shop to another. The services are hidden away from the human eye, thus avoiding any visual hindrance. All the high end retail stores and programmed volumetric atriums with retail zones have a visual connect, thus seamlessly connecting the entire retail zone in a 360-degree dimension. Vital Role of Location Texvalley project is designed for encouraging the growing handloom industries in the rich textile belt of Erode-Tirupur-Coimbatore.  It is a bold initiative by the Ministry of Textiles to put up an integrated state of the art complex for marketing & purchasing of textile products. The retail development was therefore strategically located at the edge of the Erode city along the national highway, to provide a conspicuous satellite centre to the existing old city markets around for the local vendors, manufacturers and suppliers to showcase their products to national and international buyers. Designing Energy-efficiency In Times Square Mall, the client’s requirement for a value for money retail property with functional aspects is served by creating commercially viable open spaces and terraces. At smaller scale, architectural details provide a visual dynamism using natural light and ventilation minimizing artificial lighting and HVAC. The lake and the central park, right across the mall further enhances the cooling effect. Similarly, Texvalley project derives its design from traditional courtyard planning favorable for the hot & humid conditions. The building ascends from the N-E corner towards the S-W corner to create multiple-level green terraces, curbing down the heat intake from the roof into the building. Use of shading devices such as vertical fins, overhead canopies & dead walls on the west / South west facades results in considerable amount of decrease in heat intake. Water fountains & cascades are strategically located in and around the building so that the flowing breeze gathers moisture along its run. A thoughtful application of materials like exposed fly ash bricks, hollow concrete blocks & exposed cement concrete minimizes the use of cement plaster & other finishing materials thus earning valuable carbon credits.  Energy conserving features such as STP, rain water harvesting & solar panels for general lighting are the other highlights of the project.