ARIA | Auburn University

Office Furniture Showroom

The goal of these showrooms is to cater to diverse client needs and spatial typologies. Flexible architecture is imperative in retail and is achieved by embedding storage-display walls along the exterior walls; this frees up floor space for different types of furniture groupings in both stores. It is impossible to show every home and office option available in this combined 11,705 sf storefront; therefore, this hands-on experience, within the showrooms, expands the design possibilities beyond the physical store. For example, clients pull furniture from the shelves and a catalog that describes the different material finishes offered per line. The clients are then able to pull larger samples of fabrics to drape over the furniture to test colors, textures, and comfortability. Ultimately, a furniture store should be flexible to accommodate for new products, trends and different client needs.

Two plans, one thesis project. This retail project tests flexible design in a residential furniture store and a commercial furniture store. Both showrooms experiment with embedded storage-walls that allow clients to pull pieces into different spaces.

These are the sections through the 'home goods' store. In these sections, you can see the different lighting effects and furniture groupings. Note that in each space, clients can interact with the furniture by moving pieces throughout the building.

This section through the office showroom shows the storage-display wall. Note that there is a continuous display wall behind a corporate furniture display area, a café and a collaborative furniture display area

This image is captured in the collaborative furniture display area from the office furniture store.

This image is capture from the north 'storage-display corridor' in the home furniture store.

An unfolded rendered plan from the 'home furniture' store shows the materiality, lighting and furniture arrangements throughout the showroom.

This unfolded 'boardroom' in the 'office furniture' showroom tests materials, details and furniture used in the rest of the display areas.

This elevation perspective diagram shows materiality and the series of offset ceilings in the café, the boardroom and the ‘fun furniture’ display area.