Retail design: lighting as an atmospheric tool, creating experiences which influence consumers’ mood and behaviour in commercial spaces

Retail design is no new discipline, but a scientific approach is of rather recent date. Since atmosphere has been proven to have an influence on consumer’s behaviour from a marketing point of view, this Ph.D. focuses on the designers’ perspective. This paper addresses one aspect of atmosphere: lighting and its influence on consumers’ mood and buying behaviour. Following an introduction in the discipline of retail design, we discuss the notion of ‘atmosphere’ and its relationship to lighting. We also develop a theoretical framework as a first part of a three-part process: literature review, experiments and validation. This first part includes the development of hypotheses and research questions. We will summarise a long tradition of research into architectural physics and psychology in both retail and work environments. Additionally, we also attempt to describe the applied research category: research by design. The set-up of the first experiment, currently undertaken, is explained via its method (participants, instruments, procedure) with an analysis of the preliminary results. Furthermore, the second part - the experiments and a design - and the third part - the development of guidelines - are briefly described. Keywords: Retail Design; Lighting; Consumer Behaviour; Research By Design; Mood; Atmosphere</p

Reintegration of Karachi port through sustainable adaptive reuse of abandoned and underused industrial buildings

The economic capital and one of Pakistan’s most important cities gain popularity due to the reputable Karachi port. Karachi was referred to as Korokala and Debal in ancient times; a city conquered by famous conquerors, including Alexander the Great and Muhammad bin Qasim due to its seaport importance. However, most of the port’s tangible and material heritage were built by the British during the 19th–20th century. The Britishers conquered the city and started developing Karachi port because of the seaport. Due to the port, the area of Karachi grew from a small fishermen’s village to a bustling metropolitan city. During the second industrial revolution in the late 19th century, the Britishers developed Indian industries so that they depended on British capital goods. To transport the goods, the British empire constructed railways and maritime routes in the mid and late nineteenth century, The port of Karachi was one of them.Karachi port remains the hub of Pakistan’s main logistic transportation, but some of its heritage buildings have been neglected on this site. After the 9/11 tragedy in the US, due to security reasons, Karachi port trust restricted the port to the public. Now, the security situation is better, and the port can be reintegrated and made accessible to the public through sustainable adaptive reuse of abandoned or underused buildings. Karachi is a congested city with few places for recreation; reintegrating this site can open opportunities for tourism while showcasing the city’s industrial heritage.This paper wants to articulate the potential of industrial heritage. But the latter in Pakistan is not yet recognized as part of a heritage discourse. The port offers a rich case study due to its layered history and various typologies of buildings on site

Photo-elicitation: using photographs to read retail interiors through consumers' eyes

Researchers studying experiences in retail environments have typically restricted their attention towards examining the influence of individual atmospheric variables upon customer behavior. In this respect photographs and video are common environmental simulation techniques. This research approach not only concerns researchers active in consumer culture theory, but also interior architects and retail designers. As holistic inspired practitioners, they maintain that interiors function as 'Gestalt' environments, interacting with their users. Inspired by their viewpoints, in this paper, the authors reflect on the use of the inductive, holistically inspired method of photo-elicitation in research concerning experiences in retail environments. In addition, they report on the application of photo-elicitation in two empirical projects. The findings demonstrate the value of photo-elicitation in gaining insight into customer experiences in retail interiors

Fidelity and Freedom in the Theory of Adaptive Reuse

This essay contributes to the emerging theory of adaptive reuse of architectural sites by borrowing vocabulary that relates to the transposition between architecture and translation. Three aspects seem relevant in both disciplines: (1) carrying over meaning with respect for (2) tradition and (3) craftsmanship. In the process of adaptive reuse, buildings often receive a new program entailing shifts of meaning; hence the analogy with the art of translation. In addition to this negotiation of meaning, an attitude to tradition is also a valuable lens to approach this transposition between architecture and translation. In particular the dialectic process between fidelity and freedom. Walter Benjamin’s essay The Task of the Translator (1921) and T.S. Eliot’s Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919) offers richness and accuracy to the growing vocabulary on adaptive reuse. The essay illustrates this argument by looking at the remodeling of a 1859 prison into a Faculty of Law of the University of Hasselt in Flanders. The case study wants to illustrate this process of making both the original&nbsp;and the translation recognizable as fragments of a greater language. The enclosed typology of the prison was changed into an open, urban-oriented faculty of law. It shows us how memory can be both a generous database as well as a selective process. How memory and oblivion are two essential conditions for architecture to negotiate with heritage

Adaptive Re-use in Conservation. On balancing monument and architectural values.

peer reviewedIn the discourse on preserving architectural heritage, adaptive reuse is getting more acknowledged as a feasible strategy in transforming built heritage. Considering that buildings need to adapt to new circumstances to play an active role in contemporary society again, architectural interventions of varying degrees are required. The basis of the decision-making process is an assessment of values which help to provide a common language and a scientific foundation. Value systems primarily refer to the building’s significance as a testimony to the past and the present desire to conserve it. Comparing relevant publications (including Riegl’s ‘Modern Cult of Monuments’) and International Charters on heritage conservation to prominent case studies, architectural values are examined alongside monument values to reflect future concerns of the built environment. This paper is part of a PhD thesis investigating the assessment of values in adaptive re-use projects and their reflection in legislation on the example of Belgium

Impact of Design, Establishment of Knowledge: The Exchange Between the Design Project and the Conceptual Framework of the City

A design is based on knowledge, intuition and skill, which are embedded in the process, but are only partially communicated by the results for further development. This paper investigates in what manner design can perform as an instrument of research. As a case study, design work performed by the author in an academic environment, having Hanoi as the locus of investigation, illustrates how architectural questioning exceeds the process of establishing proof to make the case for a design approach, but moreover, can establish scientifically exchangeable knowledge. Primarily, the studio established a vision for urban development, consolidated within a number of strategic projects. In doing so, it devised an urban paradigm that was tested with design proposals. Secondly, the studio results are involved in a critical review of underlying theoretical concepts. If a design approach is not able to prove the hypothesis defined in an urban vision, the applied framework experiences a crisis as defined by Thomas S. Kuhn. Considering that a framework is established by theory, and design tools are developed and applied within practice, research by design reflects upon both aspects. This leads to an explanation of urban phenomena defined within the discipline. As a research practice, the design addresses lacunas, resulting either in an affirmation or a collapse – a crisis – of the theoretical framework. The specific case of Hanoi asked for the juxtaposition of ‘postmetropolitan’ theory focused on the city territory and theory of ‘everydayness,’ analysing small scale spatial production. Thus, the findings of this study present an approach that considers the interaction between the fragment and the overview.status: publishe

Positioning Research and Design in Academia and Practice. a Contribution to a Continuing Debate

In response to changing social, professional and academic parameters in recent decades, the discipline of architecture has sought to develop an integral research culture. Many proponents argue that this disciplinary knowledge production should be based on research through design or on designerly research. These concepts however are often seen as confusing and ambiguous notions, covering different modes of production. In order to clarify this confusion, this article aims at positioning research and design by connecting them to distinctions in modality and finality of diverse approaches of inquiry, trying to map differences as well as possible alliances between the world of academia and the world of practice. Challenging the often ill-used opposition of research and design, this paper proposes a constellation which enables to position hybrid modes of knowledge production that rely on various combinations of research and design. The productivity of this constellation will be illustrated by discussing two cases in which various versions of design/research combinations work together in a specific line of investigation. In the first case, design is used as an exploration of what is at the onset a very unclear, messy situation, in which designerly research can help to identify a problem definition. In the second case, design practice can be inscribed in a further strictly scientific defined project, as a practical contribution to the formulation of questions, the gathering of data, or reflection on theories. These two cases form hybrids on the design – research scale, not clearly belonging just to the one or the other. They will be used as examples to illustrate how research in architecture can indeed encompass different modes of knowledge production, in which creative practice undoubtedly can be of major importance.status: publishe