Shop design ideas

Commercial architecture allows many people to enjoy a type of architecture that is reserved for a select few in its residential version. Fashionable companies are aware of the appeal of this phenomenon and are increasing in the location and design of their stores and boutiques to give their brands an added attraction.

Furthermore, carefully planned commercial architecture also offers the opportunity to embody abstract concepts like brand values by using design to evoke specific sensations, in the same way as advertising and marketing. In addition, shop design must respond to functional needs, such as comfort, an efficient layout and a suitable, effective display of product. The configuration of consumer goods acquires great importance, while the supports on which they are exhibited tend to either pass unnoticed or be very large, to bestow personality on merchandise and prevent it from being a passive presence, allowing it instead to interact with architecture to create a specific “ecosystem”.

The esthetics of stores have evolved so that they are now more similar to private home, giving rise to more intimate settings in which a customer does not feel like one among many but rather the leading player. Elements that lend continuity to spaces and invite passer-by to come inside are used to capture attention and create a sense of dynamism. Elements such as corridors and walkways serve this purpose.

Commercial architecture also plays no small part in the advertising process. Some stores and exclusive boutiques now form part of the tourist routes of great cities, and the stores that are most highly recommended and discussed are sometimes those that break new ground and make a greater visual impression on visitors than the merchandise they stock.

An increasingly specialized, distinctive and sophisticated architecture for commercial spaces has emerged to bring the above mentioned concepts to life. In this book, we wanted to present architecture involving major brands and architects, but also to throw light on the work of less well-known architects unafraid of innovation and risk