Everywhere large and small retailers are undergoing a cataclysmic upheaval to their prevailing business models driven by the exponential growth of on-line shopping, direct-to-home deliveries, and ever-increasing property expenditures. For Auchan, a French-owned hyper-market corporation operating internationally, this perfect storm has resulted in the steady erosion of trade in every market – as with their competitors.
For a site near Domodedovo in Moscow Studio Buschow were invited to develop alternative scenarios to address the future of the retail food industry revolution. Our brief was to create a more interactive layout in order to provide increased opportunities to engage with a greater number of visitors over each generation whilst still clearly delivering the Auchan brand. Our proposals aimed to deliver improvements in the following areas:
Architectural – a rejection of the traditional grid-lock layout, breaking down barriers between interior and exterior, and increasing daylight deep into the interiors whilst reducing building structures to deliver more flexible layouts.
Spatial – rather than present as a single shop we sought to create something more akin to a bazaar with multiple destinations beneath one roof combined with a more connected layout including attractors, points and gateways.
Social – developing generation-attracting areas for playing, resting, and interacting around food-based activities including – sharing a meal, learning to cook, new food ingredients, special celebrations – all as part of the healthy Auchan lifestyle.
