FEELING SAFE

Consumers now care more about in-store safety and prefer offerings that are healthy & locally sourced. Providing safe environments is critical to alleviating customers’ anxietiesm supporting a return to in-person leisure & retail visits.

HANDS OFF

Our overall spatial designs will be affected by the use of touchless technologies being accelerated to reduce direct surface contact. Customers will be drawn to use contactless payment, automatic toilets, door sensors, automated parking, and digital menus; which will be heavily relied upon due to social distancing.

MATERIALITY

We are researching materials to protect from & resist virus spread. For example, the value & properties of historic materials such as copper/brass; as well as new materials & technologies such as self-cleaning and anti-bacterial coatings. The use of materiality that is solid and cleanable will increase, such as those from F&B venues.

RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS

Retailers should reveal what would usually be hidden and make it part of the overall experience. Proving the best air quality conditions, with systems as a focal point, could mimic an installation. We are exploring active and passive environmental techniques that respond to climate/change, air density and composition. Intelligent Adaptive Facades, Prediction Modeling, and Responsive Air Quality Control are at the forefront of new leading-edge architecture.

‘Retail reimagined: The new era for customer experience’, Periscopes for McKinsey, August 2020