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The Changing Art of Designing Urban Retail Projects

WASHINGTON, DC—The shift from auto-dominant to pedestrian-dominant city environments has presented new challenges and opportunities for architects of these spaces, who are essentially designing for a different audience, Cooper Carry retail and mixed-use experts tell GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVELY.

By Carrie Rossenfeld | carrierossenfeld | Updated on May 12, 2016

Kitchens: “We look for an architecture that you can see is not 'bland or vanilla.' The community wants to see a fabric that looks like a collection of buildings.” Kitchens: “We look for an architecture that you can see is not ‘bland or vanilla.’ The community wants to see a fabric that looks like a collection of buildings.”

WASHINGTON, DC—The ever increasing pedestrian-dominant city environments are presenting new challenges and opportunities for architects and designers of urban retail spaces, who are essentially designing for a different audience than before, David Kitchens, principal-in-charge of Cooper Carry‘s Washington, DC office, and Lauren Perry Ford, associate principal in the firm’s Retail Studio there, tell GlobeSt.com. As people in cities move from driving past urban retail properties at 30 mph to walking past them at a much slower pace, architecture and design is taking into account their changing perspectives and providing a finer-grained approach to the way these properties look and function. We spoke exclusively with Kitchens and Perry Ford about how they are approaching this shift and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

GlobeSt.com: What are the greatest challenges for architecture and design in urban retail projects?

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