Retail Galleries : The Grand Forum

Futuristic design competition won by Colman Architects
A British architect’s vision of what shopping centres might look like in 50 years time has scooped a prestigious international design award, beating off competition from top US architects.

Colman Architects’ innovative forecasts for shopping in 2059 – entitled “Retail Galleries : The Grand Forum” – offers a vision of a futuristic retail palace complete with a Solutions Lounge where personal assistants use personal ergo chips to facilitate product “harmonisation” based on individual likes, dislikes and previous purchasing history; Body Contouring scans to update measurements; and Recycling Depots to deal with “after-wear management”.

Colman’s innovative and inspirational vision wowed the jury of leading US design critics including top American journalists Allison Arieff (New York Times “By Design” columnist) and Reena Jana (BusinessWeek Innovation Editor) together with Barry Bergdoll (Chief Curator of Architecture & Design at MoMA and Architectural History professor at Columbia University).

Colman’s “Retail Galleries : The Grand Forum” was the winner in the shopping experience category in the Future Image architecture competition, which was organised by New York-based retail property organisation ICSC. All the other category winners and “honourable mentions” awarded in the competition went to large, USA-based architecture firms.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
architecture NOW