COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE:

for a shared, smart, sensory city

 

 

“Big retail business set-ups were the symbol of a culture of more (speed, functionality, space, products and flows). Commercial spaces were one of the main emblems of a productivist economy. All too often, retail outlets reflected the image of a city on the decline in three ways: purely market-based social ties, nature that had been subjugated then deserted, and a world with little trace of warmth or aesthetics.

 

The heyday of this approach has come and gone, and it no longer fits with the current state of modernity, which demands quality in all things and entails an attitude of wanting better rather than more.

 

As a result, commercial spaces (from hotels to restaurants and from supermarkets to boutiques to shopping malls) all have this responsibility and this opportunity to between a showcase and a driver of quality of life and sustainability. For this reason, they are key actors for individual and collective better living.

 

They can bring new dynamics to a city that is better shared by all its inhabitants and that has re-become a place for interactions and sociability.

 

They can be at the forefront of experimentations on smart solutions for preventing pollution linked to energy and waste.

 

They can serve as the catalyst for a 21st century city that is desirable for everyone, offering a human environment full of experiences and beauty.

 

The dawning era calls out for a combination of commercial and cultural, profitability and quality, rationality and aesthetics, in every sector. Thanks to this techno-cultural alliance, the economy will once more be the vector for the enchantment of everyday life.

 

The field of commercial spaces should not miss this event which is crucial to the future of our societies.”