Design is the art of negotiating between competing desires. Designers are continuously asked to invent an in-between. This does not mean the in-between is a compromise. It is a new condition, in fact, one that often challenges the status quo and forces the industry, client and general audience to do the same. The in-between is inevitably the most realistic option. It is the in-between porridge, chair and bed that Goldilocks finds most palatable.
Retail is an in-between, and it operates both as “private space” (the personal identity of buying / owning) and “public space” (the new public realm). Retail is extraordinarily pragmatic and ordered. At the same time, it positions goods in a theatre of desire. Increasingly, retail is an online space, with brick and mortar locations a chance to experience the virtual display of goods as a physical experience.
This studio challenged students to invent retail as a space in-between private + public, pragmatic + theatrical and virtual + real. Conducted entirely online, the studio also challenged students to develop a process in-between drawings, models and images by focusing on mixed media collage.
Here, students helped imagine a renewed future for 520 South Court Street in Montgomery, AL. Suite A, with a clerestory, is proposed as a home goods showroom. Suite D, with a narrow porch, is proposed as an office environments showroom.
The development of a material imagination through the arrangement and curation of programmatic furniture, acoustic surfaces and the visualization of designed lighting were key objectives. We hope you enjoy the results.
Instructors:
Jennifer Pindyck, Thesis, Research
Matt Hall, Thesis
Kevin Moore, Thesis, History & Theory
Gorham Bird, Thesis
Rebecca O’Neal Dagg, Professional Practice