NOMADX
COMPLETED
FUNCTION: Retail, Multi-Label Retail, Shopping Mall
AREA: 2000 sqm
LOCATION: 68 Orchard Rd, Plaza Singapura, #01-67 & #03-65 to 69, 68 Orchard Rd, 238839, SINGAPORE
Produce was commissioned to rethink and propose ideas for the revamping of traditional shopping malls. It is already cliché to say that shopping malls everywhere has been disrupted by online shopping.
Increasingly, we find that more mall operators are relying on data analytics to guide mall planning to bridge the online and offline gaps. The role of the architect as planners of spaces is therefore reduced to mere decoration and at best thematization.
The primary focus was to create a sense of discovery. Instead of an open-plan store where merchandise is presented in plain sight, the store is organized with a series of enlarged, towering curved walls. Customers are welcome to meander around these curved surfaces to view the products.
To avert this paralyzing prospect, we devised a system of mass-customized prefabricated retail units that can be fabricated on demand and requiring only 48hrs to assemble and set up on site. Retailers, can customize, simulate and execute the fabrication of their retail units online.
Along with this retail units, we also proposed an organizational model that resembles urban growth patterns. We proposed this as a suggestion that malls can be reclaimed by the City and conversely that retail no longer requires the confinement of a mall type.
